Nature Based Solutions for Water and Land Management

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Applications closed on Thursday 14 May.

With the ever increasing need to deliver sustainable solutions for water and land management worldwide, being able to assess potential nature based solutions (NBS) in different contexts will become a key skill for all designers, regulators, consultants, academics, and NGOs involved in environmental studies.

At a glance

Dates
- Please enquire for course dates
Duration8 weeks of instruction + 8 weeks for final assignment
LocationOnline
Cost£850. This includes all course materials, live sessions and web portal access for six months. Concessions available

Course structure

The course is primarily delivered online and can be completed at your own pace. Estimated commitment is 3 hours per week, but you can do as much or as little as you wish. At the suggested commitment, you should be able to complete it within 2 months. Once you register, you will have access to the course private portal, where you can access learning materials, the online forum, and contact your instructors and fellow students as you progress. The course has a mixture of targeted lectures, case studies in video and presentation format, tutorials on key techniques and expert knowledge from the field, live webinars, and a new, practical assignment every week. Your instructors will be available for live Q&A sessions every week, for the duration of the course.

What you will learn

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

Describe, contextualise and explain nature based solutions to technical and non-technical audiences,
Quantify benefits from an economic, social and environmental standpoint,
Recognise best practice and identify current limitations of nature based solutions,
Conduct feasibility design and identify trade-offs of key nature based solutions examples.

Core content

Principles of ecological engineering,
Regulatory, social, environmental and economic drivers,
The importance of multipurpose designs,
Environmental and economic quantification of NBS benefits,
Ecosystem services accounting and life cycle analysis,
Treatment wetlands for wastewater treatment,
Technologies for urban and rural water management,
Sustainable urban drainage systems,
Green roofs and walls,
Industrial wastewater treatment with NBS,
Municipal wastewater treatment with NBS,
Natural flood management,
Ecosystem restoration for biodiversity net benefits,
Environmental connectivity and wildlife corridors,
Integrating NBS in the circular economy.

Timetable

Week 1: Introduction and NBS Framework (week commencing 18/05/2020)*

Week 2: Tools for NBS schemes (week commencing 25/05/2020)

Week 3: NBS technologies overview (week commencing 01/06/2020)

Week 4: Feasibility design of treatment wetlands (week commencing 08/06/2020)*

Week 5: NBS for non-sewage applications (week commencing 15/06/2020)

Week 6: Integrating NBS in urban environments (week commencing 22/06/2020)

Week 7: Implementing NBS at the catchment level (week commencing 29/06/2020)

Week 8: Course wrap up, review and final assignment description (week commencing 06/07/2020)*

Weeks 9 to 16: individual time for final assignment (week commencing 13/07/2020)

*indicates live session. Please note, if you cannot join the live session, a recording will be made available to view offline.

Who should attend

The course is open to delegates from a variety of backgrounds, including environmental scientists, biologists, civil and environmental engineers, and those interested in using ecological principles to solve environmental challenges in urban and rural settings.