SOLD OUT The online course providing continuous interaction with top international professors, experts and company directors specialized in the fields of forestry and ecosystem services and products. The e-learning course will run from 10th December 2018 to 10th March 2019, on Moodle’s e-learning platform. The e-learning course has a total of 150 learning hours including [...]
Natural capital comprises Earth’s natural assets (soil, air, water, flora and fauna), and the ecosystem services that come from them, which make human life possible. In this topic, you will learn: the theory of Natural Capital and the organisations promoting it; the methodologies and tools needed to estimate and incorporate Natural Capital into business decisions; [...]
Estimating the value of ecosystem services helps to justify policy’ support for, and private investments in, ecosystem restoration. In this topic, you will learn: general principles of economic evaluation (e.g. cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis, benchmarking of alternative solutions, identification of potential beneficiaries, etc); methods of economic evaluation (e.g., travel costs, willingness to pay, market prices, [...]
Wild forest products such as greeneries, mushrooms, berries, nuts, resins, essentials oils, litter, medicinal plants, and other products sourced from the forest, play an important role in many rural economies as a source of food and income. Nowadays, commercialisation is considered an activity that should be promoted as a strategic economic tool for conserving forest [...]
Investments in forestry and natural ecosystems have grown exponentially in recent years. Once almost exclusively focused on timber production, investments are now rapidly broadening their scope to embrace products and services that include ecosystem services, bioenergy and certified forest products. Investment companies and fund managers are increasingly interested in using sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) [...]
Forests play an important role in providing essential ecosystem services such as regulating water quality, reducing the risk of floods and food, medicines and timber provision. This is particularly important in countries where reduction of poverty is a major challenge. Payments for Ecosystem Service mechanisms have been put in place to finance sustainable management and [...]
Forest certification emerged as a voluntary instrument of corporate social responsibility in the 90s’ with the publication of the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) standards. The FSC system is based on the promotion of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management practices around the world. In this topic, you will learn: the FSC forest [...]
Climate change is probably one of the greatest challenges we are facing today. Forests and natural ecosystems, if properly managed, can help reduce climate change. In this topic, you will learn: institutional, voluntary and domestic initiatives of carbon markets; the basics for quality certification and carbon accounting in natural ecosystems; examples of carbon projects. The [...]
Tourism is growing worldwide and ecotourism can provide significant finances to the responsible management of natural ecosystems. In this topic, you will learn: theory and the basics of sustainable tourism (e.g. from destination to experience); the development path for sustainable ecotourism activities; example of ecotourism management plans. The ECOSTAR e-learning course The course will run [...]