Climate change is one of the main global challenges we face today. In the coming decades, the process of global warming will not only influence our way of living but impact heavily on natural resources and wildlife. This will require new approaches to mitigation and adaptation to help protect and conserve nature for which properly trained staff will be essential. With support of the Lifelong Learning Programme, a two-year partnership involving five leading nature conservation organisations in Europe was established in 2010 to address this need for staff and volunteers working in the conservation sector. The five partners were: National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Le Conservatoire du Littoral (French Coastal and Lakeshore Conservation Agency); NABU (German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union); Natuurmonumenten (Dutch Nature Conservation Organisation); and St Helena National Trust. The overall aim of the partnership was to help equip site-based practitioners with the necessary knowledge and tools to successfully manage nature reserves and other important sites in a changing climate. The five key outcomes were: a two-year programme of information exchange between each partner organisation; a top-line analysis of the current vocational education and training situation in the national conservation sector for each participating country; development and dissemination of a best practice training toolkit framework for use by site managers; study visit/training opportunities in another EU country for key staff and volunteers of each partner; development of a website to raise awareness and understanding of climate change and the new skills for managing sites. The four priority themes explored were: ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change for rivers, estuaries and coast; dealing with non-native invasive species; peatland restoration and climate change mitigation; different approaches to invasive species; and organisational carbon footprinting.