Choose from 12 specialized courses including mangrove restoration, field botany, peatland techniques, and project funding strategies. Learn from leading professionals, master new tools, and build valuable connections in your focus area.
Pre-conference training courses will be held on the 28 and 29 September, at the Embassy Suites hotel. Half-day sessions include a refreshment break (morning or afternoon), while full-day courses include both refreshment breaks and lunch.
Register for a training course through the conference registration portal. The training course desk will be located in the Crestone Foyer from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM.
Early registration recommended as limited spots are available. Please note that some Training Sessions have overlapping start and end times. Ensure you select your sessions carefully to avoid scheduling issues. All prices are listed in USD
Sunday 28 September Training Courses (Full Day)
Mangrove Restoration Training: Integrating Policy, Best Practice Guidelines, Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration, and Digital Tools
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 8:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: This workshop provides an integrated and in-depth introduction to mangrove restoration, from national policy commitments and their implications, to the role of the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) and the scientific foundations behind successful restoration and the practical methodology of Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR).
The training will include hands-on demonstrations of cutting-edge tools such as the Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) mapping tool that can inform policy making and guide activity, and the Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool (MRTT) that captures and tracks mangrove restoration. With growing public and private interest in mangrove recovery, developing high-quality ‘blue carbon’ projects will be explained.
The workshop emphasizes why it is essential to develop a holistic, community-centered approach to restoration, highlighting the importance of integrating local knowledge and engaging stakeholders in every step of the restoration process. Drawing on global case studies and participants’ own projects, the course will address why many traditional mangrove restoration (i.e. planting only) projects fail, how to avoid these pitfalls and the prioritization of conservation over restoration. Participants will engage in interactive group exercises and analyze restoration case studies.
By the end of the course, participants will be equipped with a comprehensive overview of mangrove policy, the CBEMR process, best practice guidelines for mangrove restoration, the use of online tools to plan, monitor, and sustain restoration projects, and the implications for developing ‘blue carbon’ projects.
Process-Based Riverscape Restoration Training for Project Funders, Owners and Managers
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 9:00 – 16:00
Cost per person: $100
Description: River ecosystems are disproportionately important to biodiversity and in provision of services but have been substantially degraded globally. Riverscapes are critical natural infrastructure areas deserving investments in restoration to meet global water security and climate adaptation challenges. Riverscape restoration isn’t rocket science, but there are practical considerations and principles that can make or break a project or lead to greater certainty in outcomes, and decades of misguided practices have done little to restore these important systems to date. An emerging convergence of science and practice in Process-Based Restoration offers opportunity to improve restoration outcomes at an effective scale. As with any industry and practice, the science, practice and management of riverscape restoration are specialized and nuanced – choices made or not made through the process from vision to implementation will impact project outcomes.
This one-day workshop will provide anyone responsible for directing, managing or funding a riverscape restoration project insight into the state of the science and practice to guide decision-making, contracting, and implementation and to ensure the best possible project outcomes. The workshop will thoroughly integrate Process-Based Restoration principles to guide project selection and design and a framework for project management that links vision and goals to project design and implementation. Whether you know a little of the science and practice or know a lot, the workshop will serve as a forum to learn and share.
Interoperability of Platforms and Data Harmonization for Restoration Monitoring for the KMGBF Target 2
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 8:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: This course builds on an initiative led by FAO during the Interoperability Workshop held in Rome in November 2023, which was an exercise to mapping parameters to monitor restoration with several platforms, to address it to for Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). This exercise and debate continued with the side event at COP 16 in October 2024, focusing on the multiscale integration of platforms. The aim is to leverage these discussions to further strengthen efforts and develop a truly integrated global restoration monitoring system, with FERM as the foundational platform.
This workshop will not only focus on training participants but also serve as a space for deliberation on the harmonization methodology. Participants will engage with various platforms, including the Restoration and Reforestation Observatory, AFR100, RESTOR, the IUCN Barometer, and FAO’s FERM. Together, they will explore strategies for data harmonization and interoperability, ultimately aiming to create a common framework for global restoration monitoring.
Best Practices For Achieving Quality in Ecological Restoration
Duration of Course: Sunday 28 September from 9:00 – 17:00
Cost per person: $100
Description: Participants will engage in class- and team-oriented discussion and hands-on exercises aimed to introduce and reinforce applied concepts in quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) in ecological restoration (ER) planning, implementation and performance assessment. Course learning objectives are founded upon the Systematic Planning Process (SPP) – a scientific process recommended by the USEPA to ensure project management develops the necessary outputs (design and sampling plans, protocols, permits, database management system, inspection forms, trained staff, and performance reporting) essential to predict achievement of expected restoration outcomes or ecosystem response. The SPP is a quality management framework to ensure compliance with established design performance standards necessary to assess the effectiveness of management decisions and restoration actions.
Course instruction and exercises are delivered across four parts to provide participants with tangible experience applying the SPP to a hypothetical ER project. Part I introduces participants to the SPP framework and the importance of comprehensive planning in ER. Part II focuses on the development of meaningful goals and ‘SMART’ objectives, use of data quality indicators (DQIs), and the development of data quality acceptance criteria (DQAC). In Part III, participants will learn about the distinction between implementation- and effectiveness monitoring, the need to identify roles and responsibilities and how QC procedures are applied during the construction phase. Part IV addresses monitoring data review and the importance of conducting data verification and validation. Participants will leave the training session with an enhanced understanding of QA/QC best practices applicable to a variety of ecological restoration project types.
Monday 29 September Training Courses (Full Day)
Innovative Approaches for Land Degradation Assessment, Monitoring, and Restoration: Leveraging Space-Based and Geospatial Technologies
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: Desertification and land degradation are critical challenges that threaten sustainable development, biodiversity, and livelihoods worldwide. Effective solutions demand accurate assessment, monitoring, and restoration strategies. Modern technologies such as space-based observations and geospatial techniques offer invaluable tools to address these issues comprehensively. This training course aims to explore these innovative methods to enhance the assessment and restoration of degraded lands, ensuring effective, data-driven strategies for reversing land degradation trends.
The Ecological Restoration Game: a group activity for education and stakeholder engagement to develop, simulate, and present a restoration plan
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: The ecological restoration game is a group activity where teams of three to six players are tasked with developing a fictional restoration plan. The training course will run for an entire day. The recommended number of participants is between 18 and 36 (six teams of three to six players). This training is aimed at academics or practitioners looking for effective ways to engage with students or communities to promote and improve the understanding of the principles and practice of restoration in a fun and engaging way. The participants in this course will learn how to run a similar activity and are welcome to use all of the provided tools for their classes and community engagement activities. This activity was developed at Curtin University by Simone Pedrini as part of the Environmental Restoration unit and has been run, tested, and improved for four years. This activity aims to simulate a “real live” scenario of what it would be like to develop a restoration plan. The game’s rules and mechanics are designed to ensure that the key principles, and practical guidelines illustrated in the Standards Ecological Restoration (Gann et al. 2019), are followed and understood. Each team will be given access to the necessary tools to develop the restoration plan, such as google Sheets interactive tables for developing the budget, the activities description and the timeline. The instructor will guide the teams through plan development, risk identification and mitigation, expertise-assets trading, running the simulation game, and moderating the final presentations.
Advanced techniques for restoring northern and mountain peatlands
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 15:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: Ecosystem degradation undermines the well-being of 3.2 billion people and costs about 10% of global gross domestic product. Restoring ecosystems is fundamental to reversing these losses and achieving global sustainability goals. Peatlands contain a disproportionate amount of the Earth’s soil carbon, but this carbon is easily degraded. Degraded peatlands contribute >4% of all anthropogenic GHG emissions (1941.2 Mt CO2e yr-1 annually), plus an additional 500 to 1,000 Mt CO2e yr-1 due to peat fires. Peatlands are also critical habitats for water quality and quantity, biodiversity, and many other important functions and values. However, restoring peatlands can be challenging and failures can be common if not conducted correctly. In this training course we will cover techniques for restoring northern and mountain peatlands from a variety of common disturbances. We will present methods for restoring peatlands from peat harvesting, mining, ditches, roads, gullies, grazing, burial and how to reintroduce a variety of vegetation types. We will also cover an introduction to peatlands, pre-restoration monitoring including site characterization, developing a restoration plan, and post restoration monitoring. We will also encourage participants to bring any examples of their sites, and we can discuss restoration issues and solutions.
Field Botany Training
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 15:30
Cost per person: $100
Description: The National Native Seed Strategy, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is the first sweeping national land management strategy to employ native seeds for ecological restoration. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) and the Colorado Native Plant Society are guiding the USDA Region 2 United States Forest Service (USFS) Rocky Mountain Native Plant Materials Program (RM NPMP). We identify seed needs, find native populations, and collect seeds in the five-state region of USFS Region 2 (Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas). These native seeds are increased and stored for restoration applications. With our strong botanical leadership and our many hands, we influence the direction of the RM NPMP and increase the restoration potential of the Program. We will share our community science species identification training platform. We teach people how to key out known native plants used in restoration contexts. We will teach training participants how to annotate keys and link this skill to the photography skills needed to make reliable species observations for a variety of restoration and ecological monitoring activities. We will use dissecting scopes and plant specimens to help participants see the botanical vocabulary employed in botanical texts. We will make field presses to preserve botanical specimens for scientific purposes. In relation to this, we will address the need for natural heritage participation and survey the opportunities for herbaria contributions.
Monday 29 September Training Courses (Half Day)
Trigger change! A global University course on innovation in urban land restoration
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 12:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: Under the guidance of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the G20 Global Land Initiative, in 2024, a dedicated group of University professors and urban planning experts developed a transdisciplinary elective course: Trigger Change! Innovation in Urban Land Restoration. The course was developed around five modules, adaptable to University programs worldwide:
- Linking cities to landscapes and society Introduces the core concepts urban land issues
- Approaches to Sustainable Urban Land Management and Restoration Introduces urban planning issues at various scales
- Planning instruments, tools and technologies for land sensitive urban planning Describes the various tools and technologies for urban land restoration
- Enabling urban land restoration Articulates economic and social rationales for urban land restoration
- Innovation and opportunities for ULR Describes inclusive and scalable innovations for urban land restoration.
Course materials include 48 hours of open access PPTs, a course manual and 10 case studies from around the world. Expected outcomes of this half-day training course include: gaining knowledge of the “Trigger change” course contents, critical thinking on innovation and eco-preneurship in urban land restoration. We use an interactive teaching style that encourages dialogue and rich exchanges between participants.
Implementing the Five-Star System and Recovery Wheels for Ecological Restoration Assessment
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 8:30 – 12:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: This four-hour workshop will equip restoration practitioners with practical skills to implement the Society for Ecological Restoration’s (SER) five-star system and the ecological and social benefits recovery wheels. These tools are integral to assessing the progress of ecosystem recovery and monitoring both ecological and social impacts.
Workshop attendees will receive hands-on training on how to apply these frameworks, using real-world case studies rather than organizational projects, to effectively track baseline conditions, identify reference ecosystems, and visualize recovery trends over time. The training is structured around SER’s international principles and standards for ecological restoration and emphasizes the importance of a standardized approach to restoration planning, implementation, and monitoring. Participants will gain a deep understanding of ecosystem attributes such as species composition, structural diversity, and ecosystem function, and how to assess and visualize these in line with project goals.
This workshop is designed to be highly interactive, with practical exercises in using the recovery wheels and ample opportunity for discussion. By the end of the workshop, participants will be practiced in applying these tools to their restoration work and capable of using them to support project planning and report on project outcomes to stakeholders and the broader restoration community.
Showcase of the Marine Restoration Toolbox and Training Session on Tool Use
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 13:00 – 17:00
Cost per person: $50
Description: The workshop will be used to showcase the Marine Restoration Toolbox to the global marine restoration community and provide a training session on how to use the Marine Restoration Toolbox. In this session, workshop leaders will first walk workshop participants through the resources available through the marine restoration toolbox website, which will be available in SER’s Restoration Resource Center (RRC) in October 2025. Then, demonstrations of tools (openly available through the European Open Science Cloud) in the marine restoration virtual lab on Blue-Cloud 2026 will be showcased followed by a training session on tool use.
The training session for use of the marine restoration virtual lab will demonstrate how users can substitute their own (or openly available) data into demonstrators, run code, and use virtual machines for analyses. The aim of this session is to advertise the existence of the marine restoration toolbox to the global marine restoration community and provide potential users resources and tools for following best practices and knowledge on how to use the tools available in the marine restoration virtual lab.
Building Portfolios for Ecological Restoration: Enhancing Visibility and Funding Opportunities through the Restor Platform
Duration of Course: Monday 29 September from 13:30 – 17:30
Cost per person: $50
Description: This course is designed to empower restoration practitioners to increase their visibility and access to funding by optimizing their project profiles on the Restor platform. Restor is an open-access platform that connects restoration and conservation projects with a global audience, including potential funders and collaborators. In this course, participants will learn how to effectively add their restoration sites to Restor, ensuring they showcase critical project details, outcomes, and ecological impacts. We will guide them through enhancing their project profiles to make them more appealing for inclusion in professionally curated portfolios. These portfolios, built by our team, are tailored to match funders’ criteria and designed to attract investment into projects that align with specific conservation goals. By the end of the training, participants will understand how to improve the visibility of their sites, highlight their project’s ecological and social contributions, and become eligible for portfolio inclusion, thus increasing their chances of securing funding.
This training supports practitioners in scaling their efforts and fostering collaboration with diverse stakeholders across the ecological restoration field. This course is highly relevant for project managers, practitioners, and organizations looking to connect their restoration work to broader funding networks and will equip them with the knowledge to maximize the impact of their conservation projects.