Climate change poses increasingly complex challenges for land and natural resource management. This course offers an integrated view of the main processes of mitigation and adaptation to climate change in coastal and inland environments, combining science, planning and public policies from a multidisciplinary approach.

Throughout the course, the student will acquire knowledge on the fundamentals of climate change and climate risk assessment, as well as on the key role of ecosystem services in reducing such risks. Methodologies and tools for the quantification of regulating ecosystem services, fundamental for understanding how ecosystems contribute to protection against extreme events such as floods (river and coastal), droughts or erosion, will be addressed.

The program places special emphasis on the analysis and design of mitigation and adaptation measures at the watershed scale, highlighting the potential of Nature-Based Solutions. These solutions are presented not only as effective alternatives to climate change, but also as strategies capable of generating multiple environmental, social and economic co-benefits. In addition, the course introduces the main administrative tools and policy frameworks of the European Union that facilitate the implementation of these solutions in real planning and management contexts.

This course is aimed at students and professionals interested in environmental management, climate change, territorial planning and sustainability, who wish to acquire an applied perspective aligned with the current and future challenges of climate adaptation.