About the Course
Nature offers many solutions for reducing the impacts from disasters and climate change. This may include protecting forests on steep slopes, maintaining sand dunes along coastlines or wetlands to buffer excess rainwater. These so-called ‘Nature-based Solutions’ (NbS) are an important piece in the puzzle to building the resilience of households and communities to an ever-increasing number of disaster events around the world.
For years, experience and evidence on NbS from around the world has been growing. But many people – from policy makers, through to engineers and businesses – don't yet know how NbS can help them solve the challenges they’re facing from events like floods, heatwaves, or droughts. These events affect the lives of millions of people every year.
So, what are ‘Nature-based Solutions’, or NbS? How can they help build resilience to disasters and climate change impacts? Why are NbS relevant? How can I apply NbS in my work and everyday life? In this online course, UNEP and environmental experts from around the world will provide you with answers to those questions, reaching out to you and me, to planners, policy makers, engineers, businesses, and youth. This is an opportunity for you to join a community of learners and environmental advocates.
First touching upon the “why”, the course provides an introduction to Nature-based Solutions for disaster and climate resilience, the benefits and potential opportunities. Then, specific units aimed at different target audiences will focus on the practical application of Nature-based Solutions, the “how”.
Who is the course aimed at? Nature-based Solutions are relevant to everyone, and we all benefit from seeing them applied. With this in mind, the course is designed to be accessible to everyone, no matter your background.
By the end of this course, you will learn:
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How to apply Nature-based Solutions in enhancing resilience to disasters and climate change, whether you are a youth leader, practitioner, policy maker, engineer or business owner.
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How human activities are interlinked with ecological systems and the main tools and approaches for applying Nature-based Solutions to reducing disaster and climate risks.
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How policy makers are including nature as a solution in policy processes for reducing disaster and climate risks.
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How practitioners are applying Nature-based Solutions for reducing risks of natural hazards by investing in restoration and protection.
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About green infrastructure and designing with nature as a viable complement to grey engineered protection structures for reducing impacts of disaster events.
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What young people and teachers, policy makers, practitioners, businesses and engineers can do to get involved in our race against the climate emergency.
This course was developed by the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the European Commission. It is hosted by the SDG Academy.
Course Logistics & Requirements
This course is self-paced, which means that you can access all of the content as soon as the course begins on January 22, 2021. You have until November 30, 2021, to complete all of the materials.
A note on dates: For self-paced courses, edX suggests due dates for assignments and exams as a way to help you stay on track. These due dates are suggestions to help you plan and pace your studies. You can submit assignments or exams any time up until the final end date of the course. Learn more about edX suggested due dates here.
The course includes seven units comprising video lectures, case studies, fact sheets, quizzes, discussion activities and exclusive interviews with world leaders. It is important that we get to know more about you, your level of knowledge and expectations, which is why we have prepared pre- and post-course surveys. Verified learners also have access to a final exam. Each of these course components can be completed at a time that is convenient for the learner prior to the deadline, which is the last date of the course.
The estimated time commitment to complete all course components is this course should take on average 1 hour per unit or around 6-8 hours, though this depends heavily on the learner and his/her objectives in taking the course.
Assessments & Certificates
While this course is not credit-granting, we encourage learners to work with their own institutions to explore the option of granting credit for online coursework.
This course contains lecture videos, case study videos, quizzes, virtual reality 360° video discussion activities, exclusive interviews with world leaders and pre- and post-course surveys. Upon completion of all units, you have the opportunity to receive a UNEP certificate of completion. See the “Assessments & Certificates” tab at the top of your screen to learn more.
Learners on the Verified Track must also complete a final exam.
For Verified Learners:
Verified learners who successfully complete the course will receive a certificate signed by Dr. Nathalie Doswald. In order to successfully complete the course, learners must score an average of 70% or higher on the final exam. You can decide to purchase a Verified Certificate up to 10 days from the close of the course. Learn more about edX Verified Certificates here.
Whether or not you are pursuing a certificate, you are encouraged to complete all of the assessments, as they are your opportunity to gauge how well you understand the material.
Translations
The course videos have been recorded in English, and text transcripts in English, French, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, and Indonesian can be shown to scroll adjacent to the videos by pressing "cc" at the lower right corner. We have also translated most other materials, such as the Fact Sheets, discussion questions, and surveys. However if you have questions for the course team, please try to write to us in English, as we do not have translators on hand to answer your questions in your language. For the discussion forum, you are encouraged to write in your language to interact with other learners, but instructors may not be able to understand your question or comment. Thank you for your understanding on this point.
Contact Information
Questions? Concerns?
Please be sure to direct any technical questions about the course to edX using the "Help" button at the top of your page!
For any further communication and questions about the course, email us at courses@sdgacademy.org. Since this email is used for multiple courses, please specify that you are inquiring about the “Nature-based Solutions" course.