Winter School

The UN Global Sustainable Solutions Winter School is a collaboration between the following institutions:

• University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA) - School of Earth and Sustainability and School of Public Policy

• University of Massachusetts Boston (USA) - School for the Environment

• United Nations University (UNU) Climate Resilience Initiative -- a joint initiative with UNU-CRIS (Belgium), UNU-MERIT (Netherlands), and UNU-EHS (Germany)

• PEDRR

• McMaster University (Canada)

The organization of the 2025 Winter School was financed by the School of Earth and Sustainability.

The Winter School took place also in 2020-2021  and in 2022-23, reaching almost 100 students from partner universities and about 60 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

This program, open to graduate students, is a knowledge exchange platform, and an opportunity to learn practical skills and network with practitioners and scholars. The Winter School will provide an international overview to the following topics: 

• Nature-based Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction (ECO-DRR)  and Climate Adaptation

• Biodiversity conservation

• Water Security - enhance understanding of students and professionals on the processes and conditions needed for safe, secure, sustainable and sufficient water for community development 

Speakers will include experts in urban ecology and green infrastructure, nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, finance and insurance,  innovative financing mechanism for conservation and biodiversity preservation, the use of natural catastrophe models in urban resilience planning, international economic development.

• The Winter School will take place online in January from Tuesday January 7 to Tuesday January 28

• It is online and synchronous

• The program currently welcomes students from UMass Amherst and the United Nations University (who are located mostly in Germany and Japan)

• It is completely free for students but requires registration and it is capped at 50 students

• Students will attend online seminars every Tuesday and Thursday (10:00am to 12:15pm EST)

• During each seminar there will be one or two talks from world experts, including senior staff from the private sector, the United Nations, the World Bank and other organizations

• Topics covered this year include: urban ecology and green infrastructure, nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, innovative financing mechanism for conservation and biodiversity preservation, the use of natural catastrophe models in urban resilience planning, and energy transition

• Geographic focus: talks will have both an international and a local focus (USA/Massachusetts focus), our World Bank speaker will bring examples from developing countries 

• The course will also include class discussions during the plenary sessions and also in small break-out rooms (I have recruited a team of students who will act as moderators and help facilitate discussions in small groups / break-out rooms)

• At the end of the Winter School students will receive a certificate of completion, conditional on regular attendance/participation

Nature-based Solutions

The Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) (UNEP, 2022b) resolution formally adopted the definition of Nature-based Solutions as “actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits”. UNEA-5’s overall theme is “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

"Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) is the sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems to reduce disaster risk, with the aim to achieve sustainable and resilient development (Estrella and Saalismaa, 2013). Well-managed ecosystems, such as wetlands, forests and coastal systems, act as natural infrastructure, reducing physical exposure to many hazards and increasing socio-economic resilience of people and communities by sustaining local livelihoods and providing essential natural resources such as food, water and building materials (Morawetz and Nehren, 2005; Sudmeier-Rieux and Ash, 2009). Ecosystem management not only offers an opportunity to strengthen natural infrastructure and human resilience against hazard impacts, but also generates a range of other social, economic and environmental benefits for multiple stakeholders, which in turn feed back into reduced risk."

CNRD-PEDRR (2013) Disasters, Environment and Risk Reduction – Eco-DRR Master’s Module. Cologne and Geneva: Center for Natural Resources and Development, Partnership on Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Marta Vicarelli - University of Massachusetts Amherst  <mvicarelli@econs.umass.edu> 

• Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Please contact Prof. Vicarelli if you have questions about the program or the registration process.

SES website: https://www.umass.edu/earth-sustainability/un-global-sustainable-solutions-winter-school

Program Assistants:

Please contact our assistant coordinators for assistance with attendance, homeworks, and access to course materials.

1. Hailey Elson helson@umass.edu

2. Divina Rodrigues gdesouzarodr@umass.edu 

Co-coordinator

Nidhi Nagabhatla - United Nations University and McMaster University 

• Senior Fellow and Cluster Coordinator-Climate and Natural Resources UNU CRIS ( Belgium) 

• Coordination team: UNU Climate Resilience Initiative 

• A/Asso Prof MacMaster University 

Collaborators

• Prof Nancy Doubleday  <doublen@mcmaster.ca>  ( McMaster University, Canada and UNU  INWEH )

• UNU MERIT  (Netherlands) - Dr. Sanae Okamoto

The United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT)

• UNU EHS (Germany) -  Dr Zita Sebesvari

The United Nations University – Institute for Environemnt and Human Security

Assistant coordinators: 

For questions  about logistics and materials. 

• Angela Gregory <ajgregory@umass.edu> University of Massachusetts Amherst 

• Ajay Dawani <adawani@umass.edu> University of Massachusetts Amherst 

Technical assistance and support during seminars and class discussions:

• Matt Brodeur, Political Science - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Kyle Compton, Economics - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Dipa Desai, Geosciences - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Adam Finke, BDIC Sustainable Social Change - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Kerry Judge, School of Public Policy - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Dhiroj Koirala, Resource Economics - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Emily Laus, Physics and Chemistry -- College of Natural Sciences

• Madeline Leue, School of Public Policy - University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Miranda Vence, School of Public Policy - University of Massachusetts Amherst