Critical Debates in Environment and Development module : 5X��Ƶ

Critical Debates in Environment and Development (928AF)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

The aim of this module is to explore cutting edge debates around environment and development. The module covers controversies ranging from the emergence of ‘market-based approaches’ and offsetting and whether they address environmental sustainability, through to deliberations concerning geoengineering (purposefully altering the planetary ‘thermostat’).

The module examines:

controversies concerning approaches to forest policy known as REDD+, and why there are social movements against it
how solutions to climate change, conservation and biofuels give new value to land and sea, and how this is associated with emerging social inequalities
controversies about how policy links climate change to migration, and to conflict
how developments in law are giving rights to the natural world and the power of earth law to direct environmental futures
how environmental science and futures has been shaped by political populism.

In this module, you’ll develop key research skills, including how to establish analytical frameworks and use evidence to support them. We’ll examine issues of inequality and injustice, which are crucial to understanding the effectiveness of these policies.

Guided by the ethos of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly their universalism and the policies designed to achieve them, the module encourages you to think critically. We’ll engage with current research that both supports and challenges mainstream views on environmental issues and their social causes, which are key to shaping development policy today. Readings will draw from disciplines such as human geography, anthropology, political ecology, and historical ecology, offering perspectives that reflect diverse social values, including pro-poor and politically marginalised viewpoints.

The debates you’ll explore will highlight the connections between power, environmental knowledge, and policy, helping you understand how these relationships shape poverty, environmental science, and policy. You’ll also consider how globalisation is transforming the dynamics between environmental science and policy on a global scale.

Teaching

67%: Lecture (Film, Lecture)
33%: Seminar

Assessment

100%: Written assessment (Essay)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 66 hours of contact time and about 234 hours of independent study. The 5X��Ƶ may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.