Ecosystem-Based Climate Adaptation Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Climate Adaptation Managers, Environmental and Sustainability Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CCA-022

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with climate change impacts, environmental management, sustainability, infrastructure, development programmes or related planning work.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Climate hazards are already disrupting water supplies, agricultural production, urban drainage, coastal assets and public health. Organisations need adaptation measures that reduce exposure and vulnerability without creating new ecological or social risks. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) uses conservation, restoration and sustainable ecosystem management to protect communities and assets while maintaining biodiversity, ecosystem services and local livelihoods. The professional challenge is selecting interventions that are climate-relevant, technically feasible, equitable, financed and maintainable over time.

This course equips participants to assess climate risks, identify ecosystem functions relevant to adaptation, compare EbA options with engineered measures, and develop defensible intervention designs. Participants apply IPCC risk framing, ecosystem-service analysis, adaptation pathways, stakeholder mapping, safeguards screening and monitoring frameworks. They examine applications including watershed restoration for municipal water security, mangrove protection for coastal risk reduction, urban wetlands for flood management, and agroforestry for climate-resilient livelihoods.

Teaching combines concise technical briefings with facilitated case analysis, group design work, risk-screening simulations and structured peer review. Participants develop an EbA concept package for a realistic location or organisational priority, including a climate-risk statement, ecosystem assessment, intervention logic, stakeholder plan, financing considerations and monitoring indicators. Each participant receives a certificate of completion after the five-day instructor-led course, available in classroom locations in more than 50 cities or through live online delivery.

The course is suited to professionals responsible for climate adaptation, environmental management, infrastructure planning, resilience programmes, natural-resource management, development finance or sustainability strategy. It is particularly relevant where adaptation decisions involve communities, public authorities, landowners, utilities, investors and environmental regulators.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess climate risks using IPCC hazard, exposure, vulnerability and adaptive-capacity framing
  • Identify ecosystem functions and services that reduce defined climate risks
  • Design ecosystem-based adaptation options using intervention logic and adaptation pathways
  • Compare EbA, engineered and policy responses using multi-criteria decision analysis
  • Apply stakeholder mapping, rights-holder engagement and environmental-social safeguards screening
  • Prepare a site-level EbA concept note with costs, responsibilities and implementation assumptions
  • Develop monitoring indicators for ecological condition, resilience and livelihood outcomes
  • Produce an organisational action plan for integrating EbA into adaptation decisions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build credible EbA proposals for climate adaptation funding and approval processes
  • Assess when ecosystem interventions offer stronger resilience than hard infrastructure alone
  • Use recognised criteria to explain biodiversity, livelihood and adaptation co-benefits
  • Contribute more effectively to multidisciplinary planning with engineers, ecologists and communities
  • Create a practical action plan for applying EbA within current responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Improves selection of adaptation measures with measurable ecosystem and resilience benefits
  • Reduces maladaptation risks from poorly designed infrastructure or land-management responses
  • Strengthens climate project concepts for donor, investor and public-sector funding discussions
  • Supports compliance with environmental and social safeguards during adaptation planning
  • Creates consistent monitoring evidence for resilience, biodiversity and community outcomes

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain where ecosystem-based adaptation fits within climate adaptation decision-making.

  • Climate hazard, exposure and vulnerability distinguished within adaptation planning
  • IPCC risk framing links hazards, exposure, vulnerability and adaptive capacity
  • EbA compared with engineered, behavioural and policy adaptation responses
  • Maladaptation screening identifies risk transfer, lock-in and ecosystem damage
  • Adaptation pathways sequence actions under climate uncertainty and changing thresholds
  • Equity considerations identify differentiated risks, rights-holders and distributional effects
  • National adaptation plans and locally led adaptation principles interpreted

Participants can construct a climate-risk profile to define adaptation priorities.

  • Climate scenarios interpreted using time horizons, emissions pathways and uncertainty
  • Hazard chains connect climatic events with service disruption and losses
  • Exposure mapping identifies people, assets, ecosystems and critical services
  • Vulnerability assessment considers sensitivity, coping capacity and structural disadvantage
  • Climate risk statements specify location, hazard, receptor and consequence
  • Participatory vulnerability assessment incorporates local knowledge and lived experience
  • Risk registers prioritise adaptation needs using likelihood and consequence criteria

Participants can identify ecosystem functions that contribute to specific adaptation outcomes.

  • Ecosystem structure, function and condition linked to resilience outcomes
  • CICES categories distinguish provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services
  • Watershed vegetation moderates runoff, erosion, sedimentation and water quality
  • Mangroves, reefs and dunes attenuate waves and reduce coastal flooding
  • Urban trees and wetlands reduce heat exposure and stormwater volumes
  • Agroforestry practices support soil moisture, crop diversity and livelihood resilience
  • Ecological thresholds identify conditions where adaptation benefits may decline

Participants can formulate ecosystem-based adaptation options for defined climate risks.

  • Problem trees trace climate impacts, direct causes and underlying drivers
  • Theory of change connects ecosystem actions with adaptation outcomes
  • Restoration, conservation and sustainable management framed as EbA interventions
  • Intervention bundles combine ecosystem measures with necessary engineered components
  • Multi-criteria decision analysis compares effectiveness, feasibility, equity and cost
  • Design assumptions distinguish evidence-supported mechanisms from uncertain claims
  • Adaptation pathways identify trigger points for scaling, revising or exiting actions

Participants can plan inclusive governance arrangements and screen EbA interventions for safeguards risks.

  • Stakeholder mapping identifies influence, interests, dependencies and potential conflicts
  • Rights-holder analysis addresses tenure, access, customary use and consent
  • Free, prior and informed consent principles applied to relevant contexts
  • Participatory design methods capture community priorities and local ecological knowledge
  • Gender and social inclusion analysis identifies unequal costs and benefits
  • Grievance mechanisms establish accessible reporting, response and escalation channels
  • Safeguards screening identifies displacement, livelihood, biodiversity and cultural-heritage risks

Participants can scope site evidence and prioritise locations for EbA investment.

  • Baseline assessment defines biophysical, social and institutional site conditions
  • Landscape connectivity analysis identifies ecological corridors and fragmented habitats
  • GIS suitability mapping combines hazard, ecosystem condition and beneficiary data
  • Participatory mapping validates formal datasets against community resource knowledge
  • Reference ecosystems guide realistic restoration targets and management objectives
  • Site prioritisation balances risk reduction, biodiversity value, feasibility and equity
  • Data-quality checks document uncertainty, gaps, assumptions and collection needs

Participants can develop a proportionate economic case and financing approach for EbA.

  • Cost-benefit analysis estimates avoided losses, intervention costs and residual risks
  • Ecosystem service valuation distinguishes market values from non-market benefits
  • Lifecycle costing includes establishment, maintenance, monitoring and replacement needs
  • Distributional analysis identifies who pays, benefits and bears opportunity costs
  • Financial additionality tests whether proposed funding enables extra adaptation outcomes
  • Blended finance structures combine public budgets, grants, private capital and user fees
  • Funding proposals align EbA outcomes with climate, biodiversity and development objectives

Participants can prepare an implementable delivery plan for an EbA intervention.

  • Work breakdown structures define activities, outputs, dependencies and accountabilities
  • Implementation schedules reflect planting seasons, procurement lead times and permits
  • Species selection uses climate suitability, provenance and ecological function criteria
  • Operations plans assign maintenance, enforcement and community stewardship responsibilities
  • Procurement specifications define ecological quality, survival rates and contractor obligations
  • Risk registers address drought, invasive species, land conflict and project delays
  • Adaptive management protocols specify decision rights and response procedures

Participants can build a monitoring framework for EbA performance and adaptation outcomes.

  • Results frameworks distinguish inputs, outputs, outcomes and long-term impacts
  • Indicator selection covers ecosystem condition, hazard reduction and social resilience
  • Baseline protocols define measurement methods, sampling frequency and responsible parties
  • IUCN Global Standard criteria structure nature-based solutions performance assessment
  • Outcome harvesting captures unanticipated institutional and behavioural changes
  • Before-after comparison designs test plausible contribution to adaptation outcomes
  • Adaptive management reviews convert monitoring findings into documented decisions

Participants can position EbA within organisational adaptation processes and define next actions.

  • Climate adaptation strategies identify entry points for ecosystem-based measures
  • Asset management plans incorporate natural assets and ecosystem service dependencies
  • Policy coherence checks align land-use, water, biodiversity and climate objectives
  • Decision memos present evidence, options, trade-offs and recommended actions
  • Partnership models clarify roles among government, communities, utilities and civil society
  • Internal approval routes identify sponsors, decision gates and required evidence
  • Ninety-day application plans specify priorities, owners, milestones and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Climate risk and vulnerability assessment template
  2. Ecosystem service and adaptation benefits matrix
  3. EbA intervention theory-of-change model
  4. Stakeholder, rights-holder and safeguards screening checklist
  5. EbA economic appraisal and financing worksheet
  6. Ninety-day ecosystem-based adaptation application plan

Who should attend

  • Climate Adaptation Managers — need defensible ecosystem-based measures within adaptation portfolios
  • Environmental and Sustainability Managers — need to connect biodiversity action with operational climate resilience
  • Urban and Infrastructure Planners — need nature-based responses for flooding, heat and water security
  • Programme Managers — need to design fundable resilience projects with community and ecosystem outcomes
  • Natural Resource Managers — need to prioritise restoration and conservation for climate-risk reduction
  • Development Finance and ESG Professionals — need to assess adaptation value, safeguards and investability

Skills and tools covered

Climate risk assessmentEbA option designEcosystem service analysisAdaptation pathway planningSafeguards screeningResilience monitoring

Tools and standards

IPCC climate risk framework, IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, FEBA EbA Qualification Criteria and Quality Standards, Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish core concepts, followed by sector-based case work and facilitated group analysis. Participants assess climate risks, compare intervention options, map stakeholders and test design assumptions through structured simulations. Cases cover coastal protection, watershed management, urban flooding and climate-resilient livelihoods. Trainers use templates derived from recognised EbA and nature-based solutions guidance, then support participants in adapting them to their own setting. The final sessions focus on peer review and individual application planning.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with climate change impacts, environmental management, sustainability, infrastructure, development programmes or related planning work. Experience reading project documents, risk registers, maps or environmental assessments is useful. The course assumes participants can discuss a real or representative adaptation challenge from their sector. Prior training in ecology, climate science, geographic information systems, economics or engineering is not required. No specialist software, statistical modelling or field-survey experience is required; technical concepts are introduced before they are applied.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic climate change impacts and have some exposure to planning, sustainability, environmental management, infrastructure or development work. Ecology, engineering, economics and GIS expertise are not required.

Bring a current or anticipated adaptation challenge, such as flood risk, water insecurity, heat exposure, coastal erosion or livelihood disruption. Relevant project notes, policies, maps or risk registers are useful but optional.

It is designed for professionals who influence climate adaptation, natural-resource management, urban planning, resilience programmes, ESG decisions or environmental project delivery. It also suits technical specialists who need a common planning language for working with non-specialist decision-makers.

The course concentrates on using ecosystems to reduce defined climate risks, rather than treating adaptation or biodiversity as separate subjects. It gives particular attention to EbA design, ecosystem-service mechanisms, safeguards, implementation and resilience monitoring.

You can use the templates to assess an existing adaptation project, develop an EbA concept note or improve a planned infrastructure response with ecosystem measures. The application plan identifies immediate actions, evidence needs, internal sponsors and decision points.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours, for approximately 32.5 contact hours in total. The course progresses from risk and ecosystem assessment through design, governance, financing, implementation, monitoring and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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