Key Issues in Environment and Development

MGDI60801 Key Issues in Environment and Development 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 6 Katarzyna Cieslik Unit coordinator 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 The unit aims to provide: <ul> <li>  A critical understanding of key theories on environment, climate change and development</li> <li> An overview of the implications of environmental concerns and natural resource management (including climate change) on development policy and practice</li> <li> An understanding of the interlinkages between climate change adaptation and mitigation</li> </ul> An opportunity for students to develop their range of competencies in transferable areas, including research, analysis, team-work and both written and verbal forms of communication The notion of sustainable development evokes the promise of global prosperity without planetary degradation at a time when increasing population pressures exacerbate the decades-old trade-off between economic growth and natural conservation. Developing countries strive to achieve higher standards of living necessitates, which necessitates agricultural and industrial expansion that is usually resource-demanding and environmentally damaging. Global development studies faces the difficult task of reconciling socio-economic development with the responsible use of natural resources places.  To resolve this tension, it is necessary to re-evaluate current natural resources management approaches and to design new analytical frameworks.  This course challenges the students to critically engage with key environmental debates on sustainable development. Drawing on interdisciplinary literatures from development geographies, environmental science and political ecology, it covers a range of topics that range from the local to the global, including environmental concerns in development, integrated conservation and development projects, community-based resource management, and ecological economics perspectives.  With the use of illustrative case-studies from Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, we will explore the inter-dependencies between pressing environmental concerns and development processes as well as themes related to global political and economic agendas from an informed theoretical perspective.  After the completion of this module, you will be able to:Provide a comprehensive overview of key theories, debates, and conceptual frameworks in the political ecology of development, critically examining how power, inequality, and historical legacies shape environmental governance and resource management.Foster the application of theoretical insights to empirical case studies, enabling students to analyze real-world environmental and development challenges while developing transferable analytical skills essential for further academic inquiry and professional engagement.Enhance students’ critical and analytical capacities by equipping them with the tools to interrogate sustainability and development policies, preparing them to engage with complex global issues in both academic and professional contexts.  Assess the implications of environmental challenges, including climate change, on development policies and practices, identifying tensions between economic growth, sustainability, and social justice.Develop and apply research, analytical, and communication skills to engage with complex environmental issues, demonstrating the ability to synthesize multiple perspectives in both written and verbal formats.Collaborate and formulate interdisciplinary responses to environmental and development challenges, integrating insights from political ecology to propose equitable and sustainable solutions.  Explain key theoretical debates on environment and development and their effect on policy and practice in developing countries.Explain the contested role of knowledge production in sustainable development  Critically assess decision-making and policies proposed to achieve sustainable development.Describe how a changing global environment impacts development.  Critically evaluate key theories on environment, climate change, and development, applying them to contemporary case studies in the Global South.Analyse and compare central debates in political ecology, with a focus on how power, inequality, and historical legacies shape environmental governance and resource management. Assess the implications of environmental challenges, including climate change, on development policies and practices, identifying tensions between economic growth, sustainability, and social justice.Develop and apply research, analytical, and communication skills to engage with complex environmental issues, demonstrating the ability to synthesize multiple perspectives in both written and verbal formats.  Demonstrate critical thinking, reflection, self-awareness and independent learning  Undertake both team-based and independent work to deadlinesDevelop, articulate and sustain logical, structured and reasoned arguments supported by evidence in both written and oral contexts  Teaching and learning will occur mainly through weekly online lectures and materials and weekly large group workshops or small group tutorials in which students apply and discuss concepts learned in class. VLE is used strategically as the hub of the course to share course information, resources and support communication with and amongst students, as well as to foster student engagement (e.g. extracurricular events, info about departmental lectures etc.)  2 Written assignment (inc essay) 70% 7 Oral assessment/presentation 30% Summative feedback via VLE within 3 weeks of submission.  MSc Climate Change: SSC MSc Climate Change:SSC PGDT Taught Component Optional MSc Climate Change: SSC MSc Climate Change: SSC PGDT Taught Component Optional Y Adams, W. (2019) Green Development (4th ed.). London: Routledge.Adger, W. N., Lorenzoni, I. and O'Brien, K. L. (2009). Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values and Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Asiyanbi, A., & Massarella, K. (2020). Transformation is what you expect, models are what you get: REDD+ and models in conservation and development. Journal of Political Ecology, 27(1), 476-495.Beymer-Farris, Betsy A & Bassett, Thomas J 2012 ‘The REDD menace: Resurgent protectionism in Tanzania's mangrove forests’ Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions-Part A 22/2:332–341Brooks, N., Grist, N. and Brown, K. (2009) Development Futures in the Context of Climate Change: Challenging the Present and Learning from the Past. Development Policy Review, 27 (6), pp. 741-765.Dresner, S. (2008). The Principles of Sustainability (2nd Ed.). London: Earthscan, London.Eriksen et al. (2021) Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: help, hindrance or irrelevance? World Development 141: 105383.Fletcher, R., & Rammelt, C. (2017). Decoupling: a key fantasy of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. *Globalizations*, 14(3), 450-467.Kashwan, P., V. Duffy, R., Massé, F., Asiyanbi, A. P., & Marijnen, E. (2021). From Racialized Neocolonial Global Conservation to an Inclusive and Regenerative Conservation. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 63(4), 4-19.Leach, M. and Mearns R. (1996) The Lie of the Land. Oxford: James Currey.O'Brien K. and Selboe, E. (eds.) (2014) The Adaptive Challenge of Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Perreault, T., Bridge, G. & McCarthy, J. (eds.) (2015) The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology, London, Routledge.  Robbins, P (2020) Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.Scheyvens, R., Banks, G., Hughes, E., 2016. The Private Sector and the SDGs: The Need to Move Beyond “Business as Usual.” Sustainable Development 24, 371–382. Sultana, F. (2014). Gendering climate change: Geographical insights. The Professional Geographer, 66(3), 372-381.  Tanner, T. and Horn-Phathanothai, L (2014) Climate Change and Development. Abington: Routledge.  Weldemichel, T. G. (2020). Othering pastoralists, state violence, and the remaking of boundaries in Tanzania’s militarised wildlife conservation sector. Antipode, 52(5), 1496-1518.  Lectures 20 Tutorials 20 0 126