MOOC: Climate Change Services Provided by Estuaries and Estuarine Ecosystems

The open course “Climate Change Services Provided by Estuaries and Estuarine Ecosystems” offers an introductory exploration of estuarine ecosystems and their vital role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The course highlights how estuarine plant communities contribute to climate resilience by capturing carbon and protecting coastal areas from flooding and erosion.

By the end of the course, students will have learnt about the main biophysical characteristics of estuarine ecosystems and the benefits they provide to society, the key concepts of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the ecosystem services estuaries offer, including carbon sequestration and coastal defense.

This course was co-created under creative commons licence, in the ADAPTABLUES project “Adaptation to climate change through management and restoration of European estuarine ecosystems”, funded by the EU LIFE programme (LIFE18 CC/ES/001160) and developed through the collaboration of the IHCantabria, the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria, coordinator of the project, and the University of Coimbra.

 

Course Study Guide - download button

  • Unit 1: Introduction to estuarine ecosystems
  • Unit 2: Services and benefits of estuarine ecosystems
  • Unit 3: Mitigation services
  • Unit 4: Adaptation services against flooding and erosion

Recommended level of English: B2

Study Level: Admin/tech Staff, Bachelor, Master, PhD, Teachers/Researchers

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are an inclusive, educational modality, given that they are open to anyone interested in taking them, have no enrolment or place limits and are free of charge.

The MOOCs contents will be available online at any time between the 3rd October and 19th December 2025.

You can easily enter this course by clicking on the ACCESS NOW button, and then:

if you don’t study or work at any of the EUNICE partner universities (check list here), you may create an account via the OTHER USERS option,

• if you study or work at any of the EUNICE partner universities, you can log in via the MOOC LOGIN PAGE option (Edugain), by entering the credentials you use at your own university.

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Estuarine ecosystems help fight climate change by capturing carbon and shielding coasts from floods and erosion

Study Level
Admin/tech Staff, Bachelor, Master, PhD, Teachers/Researchers
Applications deadline
19 December 2025
Dates
3 October - 19 December, 2025
Accreditation
2 ECTS
Mode
MOOC / Online self-study