A Business Approach to Sustainable Landscape Restoration

Integrated landscape management and large-scale landscape restoration should be in every company’s business strategy because in order to reach the Sustainable Development Goal on Land Degradation Neutrality (SDG Number 15.3) scaling up and acceleration of business-driven landscape restoration is urgently needed.This requires business professionals with a vision, the right knowledge and skills. This MOOC aims to train the next generation of business professionals and developers to acknowledge business’ interdependency with healthy landscapes and understand the value of ecosystem resources.

“Historically, we have found countless ways to justify our continued exploitation of the environment: discovery, tradition, Manifest Destiny, even Chinese hoax. But we’re all out of excuses now. Each passing day swells the data on greenhouse gases and extreme weather, shrinking reservoirs and rising sea levels, and diminishing biodiversity. Our resources are finite, the window for change if not firmly shut, is certainly closing, and all life must adapt or be doomed.”

Téa Obreht, The New Yorker, Dec. 19&26, 2016, p. 106.

It is a frightening prospect indeed – that all life on Earth must either adapt or be doomed. This course is about landscape degradation – a global and wicked problem that is contributing to the dooming prospect of depletion of Earth’s finite resources. But this course is also about the solutions to this problem – business driven landscape restoration. So rather than leaving you powerless with the prospect Obreht puts fowards above, it is our hope that you learn how you can be part of the solution to making sure that Planet Earth still provides a safe and habitable home for future generations. We must act big and we must act now. With this course we want to pass on valuable knowledge and teach you useful skills that you can apply in your professional life that will enable you to tackle the issue of landscape degradation and restoration. The issue is urgent, so let’s dive right into it.

This MOOC is developed by the ENABLE partnership, which is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Commission and involves a diverse, international group of organizations including Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Commonland, United Nations University Land Restoration Training Programme, the Spanish National Research Council and Estoril Global Conferences.

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Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
The business potential for Integrated Landscape Management and Restoration
Week 2
Land degradation and restoration of degraded ecosystems
Week 3
Economics of land degradation
Week 4
Commonland projects: process, team-roles and skills involved
Week 5
Wicked problems and Partnerships
Week 6
How to design a sustainable business model?
Week 7
Capstone project

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?

When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Is this course free of charge?

Taking this course is free of charge, unless you want to earn a certificate. If you want to earn a certificate, you have to purchase the course.

Reviews

this is the important course to overcome current issue about ecosystem restoration decade.

Challenging course. Once completed, the satisfaction is high and the awareness that some real extra knowledge has been achieved.

Well presented and professionally supported. I recommend this course for anyone involved in ecological restoration who is designing and implementing projects that involve multi-stakeholders.

The course is very useful to learn about the learn degradation and ecosystem restoration, however, regarding ecosystem services it needs much contents too for to be a successful professional.