Nature-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-019

Before you join: Participants should have working familiarity with climate change concepts, environmental management, infrastructure planning, development programmes or sustainability reporting.

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

Nature-based climate adaptation uses ecosystems and natural processes to reduce exposure to floods, heat, drought, erosion, storm surge and water scarcity. For employers, the challenge is moving from attractive concepts to interventions that protect people, assets and services under changing climate conditions. A restored wetland, urban tree network, mangrove belt or watershed programme must be assessed for hazard reduction, ecological condition, land rights, maintenance obligations, social impacts and long-term performance.

This course equips participants to identify, assess, design and manage nature-based climate solutions for adaptation outcomes. Participants apply the IPCC risk framework to define climate risks; assess ecosystem services and vulnerability; compare green, grey and combined infrastructure options; and develop concept designs with measurable performance criteria. The course also addresses economic appraisal, adaptation finance, biodiversity safeguards, community engagement, procurement, monitoring and adaptive management. Cases draw on urban drainage, coastal resilience, water security, agriculture and public infrastructure programmes.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings, case analysis, facilitated group work, design simulations and structured application planning. Participants work with realistic climate data, site constraints, stakeholder interests and investment choices rather than generic environmental examples. They leave with a nature-based adaptation project concept pack containing a climate risk statement, option appraisal, safeguard screen, monitoring framework and implementation roadmap. Participants receive a certificate of completion following the five-day instructor-led course, available in classrooms in more than 50 cities or through live online delivery.

The course is suited to professionals who influence climate adaptation investments, land and water programmes, infrastructure planning, resilience strategy or environmental risk management. It is particularly relevant where organisations need defensible adaptation decisions that produce climate, biodiversity and community benefits.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess climate risks using the IPCC hazard, exposure and vulnerability framework
  • Identify ecosystem-based adaptation options using source-pathway-receptor analysis
  • Develop nature-based intervention concepts with ecological and hydraulic performance criteria
  • Compare adaptation options using multi-criteria decision analysis and life-cycle costing
  • Screen projects against IFC Performance Standards and the mitigation hierarchy
  • Prepare a monitoring framework linking ecological condition, risk reduction and social outcomes
  • Structure implementation plans covering governance, procurement, maintenance and accountability
  • Produce a nature-based adaptation project concept pack for workplace application

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build credible nature-based adaptation proposals for funding and management approval
  • Assess when green-grey infrastructure is more suitable than conventional assets alone
  • Apply recognised safeguard and biodiversity screening methods to project decisions
  • Improve collaboration with ecologists, engineers, communities, financiers and public authorities
  • Document adaptation outcomes with indicators suitable for project reporting

For your organisation

  • Improve adaptation investment choices through structured risk and option appraisal
  • Reduce project failure risks from weak land, maintenance and governance arrangements
  • Produce funder-ready project concepts with clearer climate and biodiversity outcomes
  • Strengthen environmental and social risk controls before implementation commitments
  • Create measurable evidence for resilience, ESG and sustainability reporting

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define climate adaptation problems using structured risk statements and decision boundaries.

  • Climate hazard, exposure and vulnerability distinguished using IPCC risk framing
  • Problem framing links service disruption, assets, people and ecosystems
  • Adaptation pathways map decisions, thresholds, lead times and lock-in risks
  • Climate risk statements specify hazard, receptor, consequence and timeframe
  • Systems mapping identifies feedbacks between catchments, infrastructure and livelihoods
  • Residual risk and risk tolerance inform adaptation investment boundaries

Participants can explain how ecosystem condition and design choices influence adaptation performance.

  • Nature-based adaptation distinguishes risk reduction outcomes from carbon mitigation claims
  • IUCN Global Standard criteria test design quality and governance
  • Watershed, wetland, urban forest and coastal systems provide protective functions
  • Ecosystem condition determines reliability, maintenance needs and adaptation performance
  • Reference ecosystems establish realistic restoration trajectories and ecological limits
  • Green-grey infrastructure combinations address performance, land and maintenance constraints

Participants can interpret climate information for nature-based adaptation decisions and design assumptions.

  • Downscaled projections are interpreted through scenarios, baselines, uncertainty and decision horizons
  • Return periods, intensity-duration-frequency curves and design storms inform flood interventions
  • Heat indices and urban morphology identify priority cooling locations
  • Drought indicators connect rainfall deficits, soil moisture and water demand
  • Sea-level rise allowances test coastal habitat and asset exposure
  • Climate service quality checks assess resolution, provenance and fitness for purpose

Participants can identify affected groups, ecosystem services and equity considerations for adaptation interventions.

  • Participatory vulnerability assessment identifies differentiated exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity
  • Stakeholder mapping distinguishes rights-holders, duty-bearers, users and implementing partners
  • Ecosystem service mapping links biophysical functions to beneficiaries and assets
  • Gender and social inclusion analysis identifies distributional risks and access barriers
  • Free, prior and informed consent requirements shape community engagement processes
  • Land tenure screening identifies displacement, access restrictions and benefit-sharing issues

Participants can develop feasible nature-based intervention concepts matched to hazards and site conditions.

  • Adaptation option portfolios combine protection, accommodation, retreat and ecosystem restoration
  • Source-pathway-receptor analysis locates intervention points within flood and erosion systems
  • Design criteria specify hydraulic performance, habitat condition and community access
  • Native species selection considers climate suitability, provenance and maintenance requirements
  • Concept designs define spatial extent, staging, dependencies and operating responsibilities
  • Failure mode analysis tests overtopping, drought mortality, invasion and governance breakdown
  • Nature-based solution typologies match interventions to hazards and landscape settings

Participants can compare adaptation options and frame investment cases for decision-makers and funders.

  • Multi-criteria decision analysis compares effectiveness, cost, equity, biodiversity and feasibility
  • Life-cycle costing captures establishment, operations, monitoring, replacement and decommissioning costs
  • Avoided damage estimates connect intervention performance to asset loss scenarios
  • Cost-benefit analysis applies discount rates, sensitivity tests and distributional considerations
  • Natural Capital Protocol steps value material ecosystem services transparently
  • Blended finance structures combine public budgets, grants, insurance and private capital
  • Bankable concept notes state revenues, risks, counterparties and investment rationale

Participants can screen nature-based projects for environmental, social and maladaptation risks.

  • IFC Performance Standards screen biodiversity, livelihoods, cultural heritage and resettlement risks
  • Mitigation hierarchy applies avoidance, minimisation, restoration and offsetting in sequence
  • Biodiversity baselines establish habitats, species, condition and seasonal survey requirements
  • Environmental and social management plans assign controls, owners and escalation routes
  • Safeguard indicators track grievances, access impacts, worker safety and unintended harms
  • Climate maladaptation screening tests whether interventions transfer or amplify risks

Participants can plan delivery arrangements that sustain nature-based adaptation performance after construction.

  • Governance arrangements define mandates, land rights, operating authority and accountability
  • Implementation plans sequence permits, procurement, works, planting and maintenance
  • Results-based contracts specify survival rates, performance verification and payment triggers
  • Procurement specifications distinguish inputs, performance requirements and ecological quality controls
  • Operations manuals schedule inspections, invasive species control and asset maintenance
  • Partnership agreements allocate data sharing, benefit distribution and dispute resolution

Participants can build monitoring systems that track adaptation outcomes and trigger management decisions.

  • Theory of Change links activities, outputs, outcomes, assumptions and external factors
  • Indicator sets separate ecological condition, hazard reduction and social resilience
  • Before-after-control-impact designs strengthen attribution for restoration outcomes over time
  • Monitoring protocols define sampling frequency, methods, quality assurance and thresholds
  • Remote sensing tracks vegetation cover, surface temperature, moisture and shoreline change
  • Adaptive management triggers revise actions when indicators cross decision thresholds
  • Outcome reporting communicates uncertainty, co-benefits, trade-offs and residual risks

Participants can prepare an initial workplace roadmap for a priority nature-based adaptation decision.

  • Portfolio roadmaps prioritise sites, interventions, funding sources and decision gates
  • Adaptation pathways identify no-regret actions, trigger points and contingency options
  • Stakeholder engagement plans schedule consultations, disclosures, feedback and grievance channels
  • Project charters define scope, sponsors, dependencies, milestones and acceptance criteria
  • Risk registers assign treatment actions, owners, deadlines and review frequencies
  • Personal application plans identify one workplace decision, evidence need and next steps

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

What you take back to work

  1. IPCC climate risk assessment template
  2. Nature-based adaptation option appraisal matrix
  3. Green-grey intervention concept design model
  4. Environmental and social safeguard screening checklist
  5. Adaptation monitoring and adaptive management framework
  6. Nature-based adaptation implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Climate Adaptation Managers — need defensible programmes that reduce priority climate risks
  • Environmental and Sustainability Managers — translate biodiversity commitments into adaptation investments
  • Urban Planners and Infrastructure Specialists — integrate green-grey measures into capital programmes
  • Water Resource Managers — use catchment and wetland interventions for water security
  • Development Programme Managers — design fundable, safeguard-compliant resilience projects
  • Risk, ESG and Investment Professionals — assess adaptation value, delivery risk and financing options

Skills and tools covered

Climate risk assessmentEcosystem-based adaptation designOptions appraisalEnvironmental social safeguardsAdaptation financeMonitoring adaptive management

Tools and standards

IPCC risk framework, IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, IFC Performance Standards, Natural Capital Protocol

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish methods, followed by sector cases, facilitated group analysis, design simulations and application planning. Participants assess climate risks, compare intervention options, review project safeguards and build monitoring logic using realistic scenarios from cities, watersheds, coasts and agricultural landscapes. Discussion focuses on trade-offs between ecological performance, cost, land access, community priorities and infrastructure requirements. Trainers adapt examples and group tasks to participants' sectors, countries and current project responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working familiarity with climate change concepts, environmental management, infrastructure planning, development programmes or sustainability reporting. Experience reading project documents, risk registers, budgets or environmental assessments is useful. The course assumes participants can discuss a workplace project, asset portfolio, community programme or policy issue where climate risks matter. Prior specialist knowledge of ecology, hydrology, GIS, engineering design, carbon accounting or environmental economics is not required. Mathematical work is limited to interpreting appraisal inputs and monitoring data.

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 concepts and have some exposure to project, infrastructure, environmental or sustainability work. Specialist expertise in ecology, engineering, GIS or environmental economics is not required.

Bring a current or prospective workplace challenge, such as flooding at a facility, watershed degradation, heat exposure, coastal erosion or drought risk. You may also bring non-confidential project documents, risk registers or strategy extracts for use during application planning.

The course suits managers and specialists responsible for adaptation, sustainability, environment, infrastructure, water, development programmes, ESG or investment decisions. It is designed for professionals who need to turn climate risk evidence into implementable projects.

This course concentrates on reducing physical climate risks to people, services, assets and ecosystems. Carbon benefits may be considered, but project selection, design and measurement focus on adaptation performance rather than carbon credit generation.

You can use the course templates to define a climate risk, compare nature-based and conventional options, identify safeguards and establish a monitoring approach. The final application plan identifies a specific decision, evidence gap and next action for your workplace.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days progress from climate risk and ecosystem functions through design, appraisal, safeguards, implementation, monitoring and workplace application.

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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