Welcome to this online course on connecting economy
and ecology through integrated landscape management
and business-driven landscape restoration.
My name is Simon Moolenaar and I'm head of science and education at Commonland.
Our organization is a Dutch non-for-profit
that funds and organizes large scale landscape restoration activities involving business.
We could also be characterized as an impact foundation
that builds transformative business cases with local farmers,
land users, companies and experts.
You will learn much more about this during this course.
I'm very excited that you've joined us for this online course
and I will now tell you about its background and purpose.
This course has been developed by the European Network for the Advancement
of Business and Landscape Education.
The acronym for our partnership is ENABLE.
We want to enable you to become part of a new generation of business professionals
that will take part in integrated landscape management
and business-driven landscape restoration.
The ENABLE partnership has been co-founded
by the Erasmus Plus Program of the European Commission
and involves a diverse international group of organizations,
including the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands,
the Commonland Foundation in the Netherlands,
United Nations University land restoration training program in Iceland
and the Spanish Research Council in Spain and Estoril Global Conferences in Portugal.
We are convinced that together,
we can change this world for the better through integrated landscape management
and restoration of degraded ecosystems and landscapes.
However, we also believe there is a need to develop our thinking and skills further
in order to really make this happen on the ground.
And that's why we created this MOOC.
Together we will explore the possibilities
to involve business in integrated landscape management
and design sustainable business models to connect economy and ecology.
We believe that a new industry needs to emerge to adequately build the necessary skill
to restore our ecosystems and landscapes.
We call it the landscape restoration industry.
Also, to accelerate integrated landscape management
and large scale business-driven landscape restoration,
we need passionate professionals and practitioners - like you, perhaps.
This MOOC consists of seven modules that to introduce you to a wide variety of subjects
and perspectives related to landscape management and business-driven restoration.
Of course, you want to know in somewhat more detail
what content we will offer during this course.
We will now go through a brief description of every module.
The first model of this MOOC will highlight the importance of healthy landscapes
and the need to restore degraded landscapes.
The week will contain accompanying informative videos from key organizations
in landscape restoration to demonstrate the necessity of this field.
We will also focus on the role of the private sector
and the Four Returns for inspiration, natural capital, social capital
and financial capital.
The next module will give you an in-depth introduction to the concept of land degradation
and explain what land degradation does to ecosystem surfaces,
the benefits we get from the land.
Methods and approaches in ecological restoration will be introduced
and you will learn about the benefits sustainable land management
and ecosystem restoration can bring.
Next, we will address the value of nature,
the costs of land degradation and the benefits of integrated landscape management.
In short, the economics of land degradation.
You will also learn more about roles
that business professionals can play in the complex field
of large scale landscape restoration based on the Four Returns framework.
In the next module, we will explore the role of multi-
stakeholder partnerships and complexity,
which are both related to dealing with land degradation as a wicked problem.
Then we will explore how to design a sustainable business model
and how to take into account the Four Returns when designing one.
Finally, you will be challenged to apply the Four Returns framework to a real-
life case based on an already existing landscape restoration project.
I trust this overview has given you a better idea about what to expect during this course.
Take a look at the summary section if you want to learn more about the key subjects
and objectives for every module.
We will challenge you to become a professional who is not afraid to work as a game changer
in transformative collaboration aiming at landscape management and restoration.
And by the way, during this course, we will be talking about many concepts,
such as landscapes and integrated landscape management,
ecosystem, landscape restoration and so on.
A definition of these concepts is useful
to get a better grasp of what they mean and how they are related.
However, we do not want to be distracted by definitions too much.
We intend to take a pragmatic approach through our discourse.
It will become clear that some concepts are similar
and often they have evolved from earlier concepts
that have been revised as new research and knowledge emerges.
We have listed the main concepts that you need to understand in our online glossary.
Please to join us and take on the challenge to follow this online course.
Our next clip will address land degradation
and the importance of preventing it from happening
or restoring landscapes when it does happen.
Stay tuned and enjoy the course.