TRAINING AND ENGAGING WITH PRACTIONERS

TRAINING AND DISCUSSION

Institutionalizing bottom-up approaches requires technical understanding as well as knowledge on how to implement the techniques discussed. Putting these approaches into practice will require training and dialogue with experienced practitioners.

This page will highlight training, education, and professional development opportunities as well as materials that can be used in workshops and seminars. Plus, you'll find forums and avenues for engaging with practitioners knowledgeable on the subject matter.

 

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Upcoming Events & Courses

  • 29 July - 2 August 2024 | DMDU Summer School. Hosted by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) & The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and offered in collaboration with the Society for Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty, the purpose of the DMDU summer school is to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, practitioners, and faculty for 1 week of intensive study and interdisciplinary training in DMDU.

Past Events

  • 24 July - 4 August 2023 | DMDU Summer School. Offered in collaboration with the Society for Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty, the purpose of the DMDU summer school is to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, practitioners, and faculty for 2 weeks of intensive study and interdisciplinary training in DMDU.
  • 6-13 July 2023 | Assessing the Impacts of Fires on Watershed Health. This advanced-level, three-part training from NASA's ARSET Program will focus on using remote sensing observations for monitoring post-fire impacts on watershed health. Specifically, this training will highlight uses of NASA Earth observations (EO) for pre-fire land cover mapping, watershed delineation and stream mapping, post-fire burn severity mapping, and pre- and post-fire riverine and freshwater water quality.
  • 20-30 June 2023 | Transforming Water Conflicts, Climate Resilience, and International Water Law Summer Workshop. Because there is rarely enough good quality water and natural resources to meet the needs of everyone, everywhere, managing these vital resources often means managing conflict. Oregon State University's Summer Workshop in Water & Natural Resources is designed to enhance your understanding and build your skills to tackle the vital environmental challenges of our times, addressing three interconnected themes: natural resources and climate adaptation, transforming water conflicts, and international environmental and water law. Participants can select 1-2 sessions for the in-person workshop.
  • 19-21 April 2023 | International Conference on Climate Risk, Vulnerability and Resilience Building. This UNESCO-hosted conference aims at bridging the gap between science, policy and decision-making to support effective resilience building. The three-day event will take place in a hybrid format with both sessions online and at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Its focus goes beyond vulnerability and climate risk assessments, addressing challenges in fast-tracking and scaling up innovative adaptation solutions, climate funding, and the emerging role of citizen participation and open science. This solution-oriented event will follow up on the discussions held at the 2023 United Nations Water Conference, by linking scientists, practitioners and decision-makers to support the development of resilient water management policies.
  • 24-31 January 2023 | Connecting Citizen Science with Remote Sensing. Part of the NASA ARSET training program, this three-part training series available in both English and Spanish will provide attendees an overview of citizen science efforts that use Earth Observations combined with ground-based information in the fields of climate change, sustainable development, ecosystem monitoring and characterization, drought, and land cover or land-use change, and will highlight case-study examples of successful citizen science projects, with some examples from NASA supported projects and activities
  • 14 November 2022 | Launch of the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) for Africa and the Arab Region. Part of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, this UNESCO-led launch event of CRIDA for Africa and the Arab Region will be held to present the CRIDA approach and to launch the multilingual versions of the methodology in English, French, Arabic and Spanish. The launch will also allow to kick-off the online courses in these four languages, which will support the further upscaling of bottom-up climate change adaptation in Africa and beyond.
  • 23-30 August 2022 | Evaluating Ecosystem Services with Remote Sensing. This training outlines the basics of ecosystem services and natural capital accounting. It will also provide an overview of how Earth Observations (EO) can be used to support global frameworks and initiatives such as standards set by the United Nation’s System of Environmental Economic Accounting (UN-SEEA). Participants will receive information on techniques and tools for using EO in natural capital accounting such as the use of land cover mapping, time series analysis, and modeling efforts conducted with the Natural Capital Project via the InVEST software, The Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) Project, and more.
  • 22 March - 30 June 2022 | Análisis de decisiones basadas en el riesgo climático (CRIDA) [SPANISH version]. UNESCO has organized a self-paced course as part of its online Open Learning Platform. The course will have two versions over the same dates: a Spanish and an English version. Participants will be introduced to Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA), which provides guidelines to assess water security vulnerabilities due to climate variability and change, and provides guidance on the development of adaptation pathways for water resources management. The course consists of 11 modules each that present the CRIDA approach through a set of video lectures and hands-on exercises, as well as presenting a set of global CRIDA case studies.
  • 28 February - 30 May 2022 | Introduction to Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) [ENGLISH version]. UNESCO has organized a self-paced course as part of its online Open Learning Platform. The course will have two versions over the same dates: a Spanish and an English version. Participants will be introduced to Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA), which provides guidelines to assess water security vulnerabilities due to climate variability and change, and provides guidance on the development of adaptation pathways for water resources management. The course consists of 11 modules each that present the CRIDA approach through a set of video lectures and hands-on exercises, as well as presenting a set of global CRIDA case studies.
  • 4 May 2022 | New Insights on Nature-Based Solutions for Adaptation: Ramping Up Action through NBS Initiatives. AGWA & WRI are co-organizing a webinar on the ways in which Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can be better mainstreamed as climate adaptation actions from policy, finance, and implementation perspectives. Key findings from a brand new WRI working paper will be featured along with a keynote and panel discussion.
  • 9 March - 5 April 2022 | Challenges, Lessons, and Innovations for Strengthening Integrated Flood Risk Management. The ADB’s Water Sector Group is organizing a five-part webinar series specifically designed to engage flood managers, decision-makers, technical specialists, and ADB program professionals for an exchange of ideas and experiences directed towards strengthening the practice of flood management across Asia.
  • 6-10 December 2021 | Building with Nature. In a series of daily presentations and conversations moderated by Weitzman Professor of Practice Matthijs Bouw, Penn faculty members and other American and Dutch experts discuss the various aspects of this approach to hydraulic engineering and design that harnesses the forces of nature to benefit environment, economy and society. Through case studies, the speakers will demonstrate the application of the Building with Nature approach in various landscape types. Like initiatives such as the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering with Nature, Building with Nature is at the forefront of a renewed appreciation of nature-based solutions for our current climate and biodiversity crisis which have attracted support from governments and institutions including the World Bank. This series is co-hosted the Netherlands Embassy in Washington DC and Wharton Risk Center, and made possible in-part with funding from the Government of the Netherlands.
  • 29 November 2021 | Climate Smart Utilities – Tools for adaptation under uncertainty. IWA’s Climate Smart Utilities initiative is supporting utilities to strive towards achieving carbon neutrality while adapting to climate change. This webinar showcases application of adaptation tools that can support utilities in adapting to climate change under uncertainty as an overall strategy to ensure climate resilience. The focus in this webinar will be on bottom-up risk assessment approaches such as Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) and the Decision tree framework (DTF) which provides stepwise planning guidance for water resources planners, managers, and engineers to implement robust water management. Examples will be shared on how such tools can be used to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities to municipal water supply systems and to propose concrete adaptation measures for reducing future risk to water security.
  • 26-28 October 2021 | Climate-Resilient Water Management Approaches: Application Towards Climate Action and 2030 Development Agenda. Hosted by UNESCO IHP, AGWA, and ICIWaRM, the objectives of this global virtual conference are: 1) to introduce participants to the technical and practical components of bottom-up approaches for climate adaptation; 2) to share a global set of case studies; 3) to identify the policies and institutional capacity needed to more widely incorporating these approaches within national climate programs, climate finance, and the private sector; and 4) to present the outcome of the conference to policy community at COP-26. The conference will also contribute to the formulation of strategies for the 9th Phase of IHP (IHP-IX 2022-2029).
  • 25 October 2021 | Planning in an uncertain future: The Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) methodology. In this training, participants will be introduced to the CRIDA methodology and learn how it can be tailored to the utilities sector. CRIDA experts will guide the participants through the five steps to support adaptation and resilience goals. Specific case studies featuring water utilities will be highlighted to show how CRIDA has been applied to build resilience despite increasing variability and uncertainty. Opportunities to ask questions and engage with experts will be included in the session as well. This training is part of the 4th Global WOPs Congress hosted by GWOPA and UN Habitat.
  • 29 Sept. & 6 October 2021 | Introduction to NASA Resources for Climate Change Applications. This two-part, introductory webinar series will provide an overview of NASA resources for monitoring climate change and its impacts. The webinar will define the terminology and the role of Earth observations in climate change assessment, and then provide an overview of NASA climate models suitable for emissions policy, impacts, risk, and resilience applications.
  • 14-21 September 2021 | Monitoring Coastal and Estuarine Water Quality: Transitioning from MODIS to VIIRS. NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) has opened a new open, online webinar series: Monitoring Coastal and Estuarine Water Quality: Transitioning from MODIS to VIIRS. This 3-part training will be delivered in English and Spanish and will provide an overview of recent satellites and sensors used for extending the long-term water quality time series, point out similarities and differences between MODIS and VIIRS, and demonstrate water quality monitoring procedures using these sensors in selected coastal and estuarine regions.
  • 9 September 2021 | Accelerating the adoption of Guidance, Tools and Standards for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure. Guidance, tools and standards play a key role in the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Stakeholders across the infrastructure lifecycle need them to better plan, finance, design, deliver, operate and maintain their infrastructure assets and systems. Join this International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) webinar for a discussion on what resources already exist to enable the delivery of sustainable and resilient infrastructure, where key gaps have been identified, and what actions can be taken to address them.
  • 24 August 2021 | Certain Uncertainty: Next Generation Water Planning for Deep Uncertainty. As part of World Water Week 2021, AGWA, UNESCO, ICIWaRM, and Deltares are organizing a session to illustrate how bottom-up approaches have been utilized to date, presenting opportunities to achieve climate, sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction goals. The one-hour event will feature a keynote, flash talks on noteworthy case studies, and an interactive polling session with the audience. To take part in the session, participants must first register for World Water Week then add the event to their calendar in the Pathable platform.

 

EXTERNAL DISCUSSION FORUMS

Forums provide a platform where a community of water professionals can come together to discuss bottom-up approaches to climate adaptation and easily share resources, success stories, and strategies to overcome challenges.

Below are a number of active forums where water professionals engage and ask questions. These external forums are widely used and feature a large number of members with diverse backgrounds and expertise in the fields of water management.

  • ResearchGate

    ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. We've started a line of conversation about the latest trends in resilient water management and bottom-up approaches. Join in the discussion on the largest academic social network in terms of active users

    Visit Forum

  • Mendeley

    Mendeley is an academic social network for sharing and discovering research and online collaboration. We have created a discussion group to help institutions and individuals ask questions, brainstorm, share insights, and support experimentation and adoptions when it comes to bottom-up approaches towards resilient water management.

    Visit Forum

  • SuSanA Forum

    SuSanA is an informal network of partner organisations who share a common vision on sustainable sanitation, including broader water management issues. It is home to thematic working groups; WG1 (Capacity Development) is of particular interest. We are working to increase capacity by enhancing our case study collection of bottom-up approaches being implemented globally.

    Visit Forum
 

DOCUMENTS FOR TRAINING SESSIONS

BUA can be taught directly through workshops or other training sessions. The materials below have all been used to teach practitioners how to apply bottom-up approaches in specific contexts. Some of the material can be generalized, while the rest will provide an example of the types of lessons that should be covered in training.

About the Knowledge Platform

The Knowledge Platform is designed to promote and showcase an emerging set of approaches to water resources management that address climate change and other uncertainties — increasing the use of "bottom-up approaches" through building capacity towards implementation, informing relevant parties, engaging in discussion, and creating new networks. This is an ongoing project of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) funded by the World Bank Group.

© 2022 AGWA

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