Interactions of Human and Nature 4030-IHN
The main aim of the course is to apply the knowledge gathered during the first year of the Sustainable Development study programme in practical real-life situations. The course will be divided into two parts.
During its first phase held in ECEG in Chęciny students will be introduced to the natural and socio-economic situation of the Chęciny area They will learn about its geology, hydrology vegetation and fauna and natural and cultural values as well as the economic situation within that area (main employers, and sources of income of local population, recent changes in the socio-economic structure, main drivers of the local development nowadays and in the near future). At the same time they would be shown examples of the conflicts between the economic growth, urbanization and/or exploitation of natural resources and conservation of natural and cultural capital. Those would include: enlargements of open-cast mining areas, urban sprawl, construction of artificial water reservoirs, inappropriate forest management practices, semi-natural habitats decline.
During the second part of the course held in Warsaw students will learn how to solve the conflicts between development and nature in the most beneficial (for both) way using multi-criterion decision making analysis supported by the appropriate GIS tools.
At the end students would choose their own cases of conflicts between development and nature and grade possible scenarios using multi-cryterion decision making analysis following the principles of Sustainable Development. During the preparation of their own projects they would acquire knowledge needed to find the right solution for that case. Those would include both environmental (geological, geomorphological, vegetation or faunistic) data as well as social and economic ones from publicly available sources.
The results of these surveys would be presented discusses with the group during the last day of the course.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
During the course students will learn how the knowledge they gained throughout the first year of the programme can be applied in practice. They will also understand better the multidisciplinary character of the environmental problems and would learn how to use their wide knowledge to solve them.
After completion of the course the student:
- understands the concept of sustainable development in all its aspects (K_W01);
- knows global and regional environmental, social and economic challenges and understands the mutual connections between them (K_W02);
- recognizes the problems and challenges of sustainable development and is able to choose the methods, tools and procedures leading to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at various spatial scales (global, regional, local) and in different disciplines (K_W03);
- knows how to apply an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable development, using information from various fields and can assess the contribution of these areas to solving problems / challenges related to sustainable development (K_W07);
- can initiate, actively participate and lead teams preparing documents and strategies for implementing sustainable development principles in various types of institutions and bodies at various levels of management, as well as within the framework of civic movements and other social initiatives (K_U01);
- can work interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral – can derive knowledge from various disciplines as well as institutional and independent sectors in order to synthesize new ideas and concepts (K_U02);
- can pose critical questions and find appropriate solutions (K_U04);
- is able to participate in international and local initiatives as well as academic and practical debates on sustainable development issues (K_U06);
- applies modern information techniques (eg: GIS, remote sensing)(K_U09);
- improves his professional skills (K_K04);
- verifies and respects the opinion of other team members, especially subordinates (K_K05);
- cares about the reliability and credibility of its research work (K_K07);
- coordinates the work of the team, in particular transfer of responsibilities and time management (K_K09).
Assessment criteria
The students will be graded according to their engagement during the field part of the course, progress during development of their own project and performance during final presentation of their own project.
Practical placement
Not apllplicaple.
Bibliography
• Ollson E. G. A. Gooch P. (Eds.) (2019). Natural Resource Conflicts and Sustainable Development. London, New York: Routledge.
• Redpath, S., Gutiérrez, R., Wood, K., & Young, J. (Eds.). (2015). Conflicts in Conservation: Navigating Towards Solutions (Ecological Reviews). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Steve M. Redpath, Juliette Young, Evely A., Adams W. M., Sutherland W. J., Whitehouse A., Amar A., Lambert R. A., Linnell J. D. C., Watt A., Gutiérrez R. J. (2013), Understanding and managing conservation conflicts, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 28(2): 100-109.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: