Learning Units
The NBS EduWORLD Learning Units page offers a comprehensive and flexible suite of resources designed to integrate Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into higher education and professional training. With 50 curated Learning Units, this platform supports educators, students, and practitioners at all levels—undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG), doctoral (PhD), vocational, and entrepreneurial.
Covering a broad spectrum of themes and contexts, the Learning Units are structured around key educational streams:
- Common Core Units introduce foundational NBS concepts, such as ecosystem services, biodiversity, and the SDGs.
- 3rd Level Units target university-level learners, with a focus on implementation, policy, social inclusion, and future urban development.
- Entrepreneurial Units support learners exploring nature-based enterprises, business models, green finance, and sector-specific NBS opportunities.
- Vocational Units are tailored for practical skills development, project management, policy engagement, and multi-level governance.
- Case Studies and Workshops offer real-world applications and participatory methods from NBS EduWORLD demonstrator sites across Europe.
Each unit is aligned with European Qualification Framework (EQF) levels, ranging from Level 6 to Level 8, ensuring academic relevance and adaptability.
These Learning Units are editable and adaptable, supporting custom integration into curricula, practice-oriented, blending theory with applied learning, and geographically diverse, reflecting urban, rural, and coastal NBS contexts.
Download the full list of Learning Units
Whether you're a lecturer seeking ready-to-use teaching materials, a student exploring sustainability, or a professional upskilling in green innovation, the NBS EduWORLD Learning Units offer a unique, user-friendly gateway into nature-based thinking and action.
Search results ( 1 - 5 of 26 )
Challenges in financing and implementing NBS
The unit starts with a succinct overview of NBS initiatives and their importance in meeting the 2050 carbon-neutrality goal as oultined in the European Green Deal and European Green Law. Financing NBS ramifications are multifaceted in a sustainable economy.
Find here the editable version and the teaching note.
Educational Level: Higher Education
Language: English
Organisation: TCD
Creating Sustainable Learning Spaces through NBS - Opportunities for Policy Action
This Learning Unit introduces learners to policy action areas for promoting Sustainable Learning Spaces. It discusses how four policy action areas can support the development of Nature-based Solutions on educational institution grounds. Some best practice examples are provided from various EU member states.
Find here the editable version and the teaching note.
Educational Level: Higher Education
Language: English
Organisation: PPMI
Dune Restoration Case
This unit explores the concept of dune restoration as a Nature-Based Solution for managing coastal flooding. The session covers the role of coastal dunes, wetlands, and mangrove forests in protecting coastlines, improving water retention, and supporting biodiversity. It also highlights the REDUNA project and its contribution to enhancing urban resilience through the restoration of coastal ecosystems.
Find here the editable version and the teaching note.
Educational Level: Higher Education
Language: English
Organisation: TCD
Ecosystem Restoration: EU Policy and Principles to Heal and Project Landscapes with Nature
Ecosystems have been disturbed by human interventions, such as logging, damming rivers, intense grazing or by natural disasters like hurricanes, fires and floods. This learning unit introduces the concept of Restorative Ecology using NBS as a way to protect and heal urban, rural and coastal landscapes. Learners will be introduced to principles to guide ecosystem restoration as part of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (to 2030) and to the EU Nature Restoration Law enacted in 2024. Learners debate the benefits of the practice to protect, restore and heal ecosystems and consider the implications in their own personal or professional contexts and to their local community.
Find here the editable version and the teaching note.
Educational Level: Higher Education
Language: English
Organisation: TCD
Ecosystem Services and Nature's Benefits
An introduction highlighting the benefits of Nature-Based Solutions. The focus of this Learning Unit is the broader ecosystem, focused on envionrmental, economic and societal benefits. Learners can explore NBS from a macro perspective, and reflect on its benefits from their own experiences and the lens of their academic discipline of study.
Find here the editable version and the teaching note.
Educational Level: Higher Education
Language: English
Organisation: TCD
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