A Hands-On Training Event

ThinkNature Summer School 2019
Nature-Based Solutions – From Theory to Practice

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions which are inspired by, supported by or copied from nature, potentially energy and resource-efficient and resilient to change. NBS have been identified as critical for the regeneration and improvement of well-being in urban areas, coastal resilience, multi-functional watershed management and ecosystem restoration, increasing the sustainability of matter and energy use, enhancing the insurance value of ecosystems, and increasing carbon sequestration. NBS have especially been applied to address urban challenges, such as climate change mitigation, water management, land-use and urban development and they have been promoted by practitioners (in particular the International Union for Nature Conservation, IUCN) and through policy (European Commission), as a way to addressing societal challenges.

About the Summer School

The ThinkNature project is organizing a week-long, hand-on summer school focused on Nature Based Solutions. The training program will consist of two days of inspirational talks and discussions covering the following topics:

• Introduction to NBS
• Classification of NBS and multiple and multiscale benefits
• Technology and practice – Knowledge base and emerging innovative NBS
• Technology and practice – Transferability and upscaling of NBS
• Technology and practice – Impact evaluation framework
• Financing and business models
• Policy and decision-making mechanisms
• Future perspectives – Discussion

Participants will be introduced to two case studies on urban regeneration and ecosystem restoration through a long field trip in the city of Chania and at the Koiliaris Critical Zone Observatory and two days of hand-on training in designing NBS for those two case studies. The training will be hands-on, co-design workshops that will include:

• training on tools for the design of the NBS,
• identifying their benefits and co-benefits,
• include stakeholders for co-design of alternatives, and
• evaluation of the impacts and overcoming the barriers.

The summer school will provide the opportunity of enhancing the interactions and exchanges between science, policy, business and society to mainstream the available knowledge into policy and practice.

Presentations and Videos of lectures