Recognizing the need for specialized skills to establish a climate change resilient and well-connected network of protected areas in Europe, NaturaConnect is crafting an online training curriculum for conservation practitioners, spatial planners, natural resource managers, and decision-makers, responsible for the planning and designation of new conservation areas, ecological corridors or green infrastructure.

This curriculum, inspired by the IUCN competence framework, features a Training Needs Assessment Tool to identify essential competences for connectivity and conservation planning. It allows for the personalization of future professional training by assessing individual competences and identifying training needs. Results guide NaturaConnect and other future projects in creating competence-based capacity-building materials that meet the needs of practitioners to work successfully towards a truly coherent and resilient network of conservation areas in Europe. All capacity building materials develop by NaturaConnect are available on the European Nature Academy (ENA), a training hub administered by EUROPARC Federation. The NaturaConnect Learning Platform composes various self-paced learning modules. These will be developed and launched throughout 2024 and 2025. They are publicly available and free of charge.

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NaturaConnect is a Horizon Europe project running from July 2022 to June 2026. The project aims to design a blueprint for a coherent Trans-European Nature Network (TEN-N) of conserved areas that protect at least 30% of land in the European Union, with at least one-third of it under strict protection. NaturaConnect is developing novel biodiversity data and scenarios for biodiversity and ecosystem services, identifying priority areas for new designations and connectivity; and developing spatial planning tools to support the TEN-N planning process at sub-national, national- and European decision levels.