Climate Change is impacting our landscapes, action is needed now! During this international short course, you will learn about the landscape approach, climate trends and adaptation actions to increase the resilience of your landscapes and its people. We will provide you with practical and participatory tools, which allow you to assess the vulnerabilities of your landscapes and develop climate smart strategies. This way, you will look for synergies between various SDG goals!
Our climate is changing and landscapes all over the world are affected. This has severe impacts on the multiple services and benefits landscapes provide for us, such as natural resources, carbon storage and food and livelihood security. Societies consequently need to learn to cope with the changes predicted, warmer temperatures, drier soils, changes in weather extremes and rising sea levels. At different governance levels and scales, appropriate responses are needed. However in many countries the existing governance structures are organised in sectors, dealing with agriculture, forestry, biodiversity conservation, mining, housing and other land uses separately. This poses challenges for effectively designing climate smart strategies at the local level.
A great entry point for addressing climate impacts in an integrated way, is at the landscape level. During this course, we will think landscape from a biophysical perspective, taking into account ecological and hydrographical processes as well as from a socio-economic and a governance perspective. Searching the best options for integrating different land uses require the involvement of many stakeholders (e.g., local communities, farmers, businesses, policymakers, civil society organisations, etc.). Climate smart interventions need to be embedded in the landscape, but also need to be aligned to higher policy levels. This requires stakeholders to change their practices and shift perceptions and accepted norms. This course encourages you to become a facilitator of change. The training approach is interactive and hands-on. It includes group work, case studies and individual action planning. You will also receive free entrance to the Global Landscapes Forum on 1-2 December and we highly encourage you to participate. As a group we will present and share the work of this short course during the conference.
The course will be held in Bonn, just before the Global Landscapes Forum Conference in Bonn on 1-2 December and the COP24 in Katowice, Poland on 3-14 December. Your host is the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), which is leading the movement in putting communities first in addressing landscape-level issues. Bonn is situated in the beautiful landscape around the river Rhine and has an international character due to the UN campus.
Using a variety of training methods
The unique partnership between Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) and the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is an excellent opportunity to combine practical experience and academic knowledge with a policy oriented international network. The Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation has a vast experience in participatory and hands-on professional training. The GLF is the initiator of a global movement around landscapes and provides us the opportunity to join them in their mission. The course builds on many years of collaboration with CIFOR, ICRAF, hence quality knowledge and practical applicability are assured.
After the course you will be able to:
- apply a landscape approach and critically examine landscape dynamics;
have a better understanding of climate change and assess its vulnerabilities and impacts at the landscape level;
- identify and develop new climate smart interventions at landscape level, and assess their institutional capacity;
- assess your own role as facilitator, and further develop your competencies as a facilitator of climate smart landscape governance processes on the ground;
- present yourself as member of an international network of landscape leaders and your work during the Global Landscapes Forum Conference.
Are you eligible to take part in this exciting course?
If you are an experienced professional with several years of working experience in the fields of natural resources management, climate change, forestry, agriculture, rural development, rural livelihoods, sustainable development, spatial planning, governance, and other related areas, you are warmly welcome. English proficiency is required.