Research Ideas and Outcomes :
Workshop Report
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Corresponding author: Mario V Balzan (mario.balzan@mcast.edu.mt)
Received: 18 Nov 2020 | Published: 18 Nov 2020
© 2020 Judita Tomaskinova, Lynn Dicks, Marcus Collier, Davide Geneletti, Miriam Grace, Davide Longato, Renata Sadula, Pavel Stoev, Anna Sapundzhieva, Mario V Balzan
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Tomaskinova J, Dicks L, Collier M, Geneletti D, Grace M, Longato D, Sadula R, Stoev P, Sapundzhieva A, Balzan MV (2020) Capacity-building and networking events for nature-based solutions and re-naturing in Malta. Research Ideas and Outcomes 6: e60893. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e60893
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Nature-based solutions (NbS) have the potential to build climate resilience and tackle key societal challenges while also providing multiple co-benefits to biodiversity and human well-being. The demand for nature-based innovation is strongly felt in Malta – a small island state, with the highest population density in the European Union. Against this background, the Horizon 2020 project ReNature (Promoting research excellence in nature-based solutions for innovation, economic growth and human well-being in Malta) has the goal to enhance research excellence of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), as well as the national research, policy, business and stakeholder community. The six strategically designed training activities fostering capacity-building and research excellence, delivered during the first half of the project, resulted in useful learning outputs. These are twelve presentations, available as attachments to this article, which cover a large scope of topics related to the implementation of NbS. At a later stage, ReNature will publish another round of learning outputs, resulting from the rest of the training activities planned within the scope of the project.
biodiversity, ecosystem services, nature-based solutions, sustainable development, sustainable development goals, urban ecology
Nature-based solutions (NbS) have the potential to build climate resilience, tackle key societal challenges and provide multiple co-benefits to biodiversity and human well-being. The demand for nature-based innovation is strongly felt in Malta, a small island state with the highest population density in the European Union. The country has over the past years gone through strong tourism and economic growth but at the same time is highly vulnerable to climate change and has limited natural resources. The implementation of nature-based solutions creates therefore an opportunity to improve resilience and to foster adaptation to climate and environmental changes, the latter including rapid urbanisation and the steep growth in demand for energy and water resources.
Against this background, the aim of the capacity-building activities carried out within the first 18 months of the Horizon 2020 project ReNature (Promoting research excellence in nature-based solutions for innovation, economic growth and human well-being in Malta) was to enhance the institutional research capacity and to develop stronger links betwee research, policy, and the business and stakeholder community. As such, the project is helping to position Malta as a front-runner country in research and innovation, and in the generation of novel NbS that tackle environmental challenges faced by modern societies. The ReNature consortium and the research community within which it is anchored seek to promote capacity building and have identified a number of learning outcomes that are considered as being important in the field of NbS. This training is delivered through the coordination of specific modular trainings in topics related to the key areas of this concept.
Six strategically designed training activities were delivered during the first 18 months of the project. These trainings have focused on the complex problems that are present in human-dominated environments, including the effects and impacts of urbanisation, such as rapidly emerging and changing landscapes in the areas of rural-urban interface. Cultural landscapes and the related complex social and environmental issues call for a rethinking of traditional landscape planning and management approaches in the twenty-first century. Participants had the possibility to interact and share experiences and activities with experts from the research and practitioners’ community during the practical and theoretical sessions that were carried out within each training and networking event.
The ReNature training courses were aimed at providing trainees with an understanding of the potential of nature-based solutions in cultural landscapes, in the context of the holistic approach towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This has allowed the trainees to discuss the importance of NbS and demonstrate that they have the necessary skills and knowledge to identify and apply NbS in different contexts. The training courses included “problem-based” learning sessions, aiming at the stimulation of professional development and further cooperation among participants. All training modules were delivered in English.
The training courses participants identified societal challenges that would benefit from the adoption of NbS, described appropriate NbS to address such challenges across a rural-urban gradient, evaluated the benefits of mainstreaming NbS through the use of tools and knowledge synthesis, ad described the links between green infrastructure and human health in urban areas. In addition, trainees learnt how to assess the impact of ecosystem structure and function on the delivery of regulating ecosystem services. Trainees carried out field-based work and actively engaged in discussions on selected case-studies in order to obtain important first-hand experience in this field and understand how ecosystem service knowledge can be applied in planning and design-making to support the design of NbS. Moreover, the participants were also trained in communicating scientific content in an engaging and impactful way. Furthermore, during group works, oral presentations and science communication sessions, they tested different approaches to communicate concepts and key information about NbS and sustainability.
The aim of the training events was to exchange knowledge, build capacity and promote research for the NbS implementation.
A total of six consecutive capacity-building events were held between 1st September 2018 – 29th February 2020:
ReNature Training Course 3: Nature-based Solutions in Urban Planning was held at the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Trento, Italy, 5th – 7th February 2020;
ReNature Training Course 4: Nature-based Solutions in Rural Landscapes was held at the Institute of Applied Sciences, MCAST Main Campus, Paola, Malta, 24th – 25th February 2020.
For these training and networking events, we brought together 28 mentors and speakers from the ReNature consortium and the research and practice community across Europe (Table
Name | Organization |
Balzan, Mario V. | Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Malta |
Dicks, Lynn V. | University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
Collier, Marcus | Trinity College Dublin, Ireland |
Geneletti, Davide | University of Trento, Italy |
Grace, Miriam | University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
Tomaskinova, Judita | Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Malta |
Longato, Davide | University of Trento, Italy |
Sapundzhieva, Anna | Pensoft Publishers Ltd., Bulgaria |
Calleja, Eman | Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Malta |
Zerafa, Steve | Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Malta |
Łowicki, Damian | Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland |
Lennon, Mick | University College Dublin, Ireland |
McIntyre, Tadhg | University of Limerick, Ireland |
Harris, Maryann | Dublin City Council, Ireland |
O’Malley, Vincent | Transport Infrastructure Ireland |
Sweeney, Noel | Sweeney Associates, Ireland |
Cortinovis, Chiara | Lund University, Sweden |
Adem Esmail, Blal | University of Trento, Italy |
Kato Huerta, Jarumi | University of Trento, Italy |
Orta Ortiz, Susana | University of Trento, Italy |
Giovannini, Lorenzo | University of Trento, Italy |
Falco, Enzo | University of Trento, Italy |
Segura, Lorena | Mediterranean Wetland Observatory, Tour du Valat, Arles, France |
Alcantara, Andres | IUCN Malaga, Spain |
Marini, Simone | Institute of Life Sciences, Land Lab., Pisa, Italy |
Biesmeijer, Koos | Naturalis Biodiversity Centre Leiden, Netherlands |
Fürst, Christine | Martin-Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Germany |
Theochari, Dimitra | MSB Landshaftsarchitekten Hamburg, Germany; COST Action Circular City, National Technical University, Greece |
These training courses involved the participation of 137 trainees from 22 countries (Fig.
The training activities were geared towards enabling the research team from the coordinating institution (MCAST) to upscale its research capacity and develop collaborations. Training events included sessions that developed and understanding of the basic concepts and the tools for mapping and assessing biodiversity, green infrastructure and ecosystem services. Additionally, opportunities and challenges associated with mainstreaming NbS in an urban and rural context were also covered. All six courses have included a strong practical element and have included the use of technology (e.g. mobile app, geographical information systems, drone usage), group work to facilitate interactions, during field visits and problem-solving sessions.
In parallel with the ReNature 1st Training Course, a thematic workshop was held with stakeholders, representing organisations from spheres which include business, national and local government, government-associated entities, and research, from Malta and other Mediterranean islands, to assess practitioners’ knowledge needs related to NbS. A collaborative, multi-stakeholder exercise to identify priority knowledge needs that could enhance the uptake of NbS in Mediterranean islands started on the 5th April 2019 and was concluded on the 7th May 2019. This took the form of a three-round knowledge synthesis led by the University of East Anglia, with the workshop component (Round 3) hosted at MCAST (Fig.
The ReNature 1st Training Course was focused on topics related to biodiversity and land monitoring. The course also included fieldwork and a hands-on activity, aimed at the collection of data for mapping green infrastructure and tree diversity in an urban area, by using an app specifically developed for the project, namely the ReNatureTreeMap app (Fig.
By the end of the course, the trainees were able to:
The ReNature 2nd Training course was focused on mainstreaming NbS in planning and policymaking. During the field excursion, participants were introduced to working examples of NbS in new urban infrastructure projects. Subsequently, they had to design a NbS approach for a selected case study to address problems typically occurring in urban areas, by incorporating some of the lessons learnt from policymakers and practitioners.
The skills that were developed included:
The First ReNaturing Cities Interdisciplinary Summer School was organised in collaboration with the COST Action Circular City. Around half of the participants were selected to receive a COST Circular City grant by a group of experts from the ReNature consortium and the COST Circular City. This training was carried out through 18 learning sessions and was accredited by MCAST at 2 ECTS. Participants learnt how to assess the impact of ecosystem structure and function on the delivery of regulating ecosystem services and carried out field-based work in two case studies (an urban area and the island of Comino), while actively engaging in discussions for selected case-studies (Fig.
Upon completing the summer school, learners were able to:
The ReNature 3rd Training course was focussed on NbS in urban planning and carried out through 10 learning sessions (of which 3 concerned group work and presentations, Fig.
The training activities upskilled participants in:
The ReNature 4th Training course focused on the implementation of NbS in rural landscapes. A practical demonstration was carried out to assess the use of drones and explore their various benefits in monitoring the environment, while gaining knowledge and insights on the environmental and agricultural characteristics, and acting pressures (Fig.
By the end of the course, trainees were able to:
Attached to this article, there is a set of training materials resulting from the above listed events. They will be complemented by a second article, linking to the rest of the key outputs presented in upcoming training activities of ReNature.
List of presentations:
The training events have created a space for open and inspiring discussion among project partners, academics, practitioners and relevant stakeholders, complementing the establishment of a national NbS research and innovation cluster. These training activities have managed to bring together a strong stakeholder community, which together with the ReNature Twinning collaboration, is working to develop the scientific, technical and research capacities to implement NbS in practice. This NbS cluster will help to further enhance the support and coordination given by ReNature for improving the national participation in Horizon 2020 projects on NbS.
In the second half of its timespan, the ReNature project has planned additional training and capacity-building activities that will foster research excellence at the participating institutions. These shall consist of one advanced scientific online training course, focusing on collaborations across the science-policy interface for NbS, and a second PhD training school, focussing on designing NbS. The project will publish another round of learning outputs resulting from these upcoming activities.
The ReNature project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 809988.