Postgraduate Course: Environmental Governance (PGGE11248)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Contemporary society faces many interrelated sustainability challenges such as those surrounding issues of energy, water and food provision and access, terrestrial and marine biodiversity loss, climate change etc. State and non-state actors approach and attempt to address these challenges in many different ways across multiple levels, from local self-governance through to international agreements. The term ¿Environmental Governance¿ refers to the approaches, norms, instruments, actors and institutions involved in attempts to address sustainability issues. The course is designed to provide an introduction to key debates in Environmental Governance, drawing on academic literature and case studies of environmental governance practices to analyse these key debates from different perspectives and using multiple tools of analysis. The course challenges participants to think across disciplinary boundaries as we apply and compare insights from human geography, environmental economics, environmental studies, political sciences, science and technology studies and development studies. Participants analyse Environmental Governance case studies presented by practitioners throughout the course, in order to engage in fruitful dialogue between academic insights and practitioners¿ real-life cases. |
| Course description |
Week Content
1 Introduction to the course and outline of key concepts
2 Governing the commons
3 Commodification of Nature
4 Conceptualising power in Environmental Governance
5 Transition Management
6 Private sector led environmental governance
7 Adaptive Governance
8 Group Presentations (summative)
9 International environmental regimes and politics
10 Assignment peer-review
11 Science-policy-practice interfaces
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Classify and compare different Environmental Governance practices employed by multiple factors across different levels
- Engage in critical discussions around the key debates of Environmental Governance
- Contribute to academic and policy discussions on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
- Develop skills in applying and integrating interdisciplinary academic insights to real-life case studies of Environmental Governance
- Conduct analyses of Environmental Governance practices
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Reading List
Adger, N. et al. (2003) Governance for sustainability: towards a `thick' analysis of environmental decision making, Environment and Planning A 35, pp. 1095 - 1110
Adger, W. N. and A. Jordan (2009). Governing Sustainability. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Betsill, M., Hochstetler, K., Stevis, D. (Eds) (2014) Advances in International Environmental Politics. Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan.
Betsill, M. and Corell, E. (eds) (2007) NGO Diplomacy: The Influence of Nongovernmental Organizations in International Environmental Negotiations, MIT Press
Biermann, F., K. Abbott, S. Andresen, K. Backstrand, S. Bernstein, M. M. Betsill, H. Bulkeley, B. Cashore, J. Clapp, C. Folke, A. Gupta, J. Gupta, P. M. Haas, A. Jordan, N. Kanie, T. Kluvankova-Oravska, L. Lebel, D. Liverman, J. Meadowcroft, R. B. Mitchell, P. Newell, S. Oberthur, L. Olsson, P. Pattberg, R. Sanchez-Rodriguez, H. Schroeder, A. Underdal, S. C. Vieira, C. Vogel, O. R. Young, A. Brock and R. Zondervan (2012). "Navigating the Anthropocene: Improving Earth System Governance." Science 335(6074): 1306-1307.
Biermann, F, Pattberg, P. and Zelli, F. (eds). (2010). Global Climate Governance Beyond 2012: Architecture, Agency and Adaptation, Cambridge University Press.
Blaikie, P. (1995) Changing environments or changing views? A political ecology for developing countries, Geography 80 pp.203
Bulkeley, H. and Newell, P. (2015) Governing Climate Change. Second Edition. Routledge, London.
Death, C., & Gabay, C., (2015) Doing Biopolitics Differently? Radical Potential in the Post-2015 MDG and SDG Debates, Globalizations 12 (4) pp. 597-612.
Dryzek, J. (2005) The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Evans, J. P. (2011) Environmental Governance. Routledge, London
Folke, C., Hahn, T., Olsson, P. & Norberg, J. (2005) Adaptive Governance of Social-ecological systems, Annual Review of Environmental Resources 30
Glasbergen, P., Bierman, F., Mol, A. (eds) (2007) Partnerships, Governance and Sustainable Development: Reflections on Theory and Practice Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Griggs, D., Stafford-Smith, M., Gaffney, O., Rockström, J., Öhman, M.C., Shyamsundar, P., Steffen, W., Glaser, G., Kanie, N., & Noble, N., (2013) Policy: Sustainable development goals for people and planet, Nature 495 pp. 305-307 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v495/n7441/full/495305a.html
Jorgensen, M.W., Phillips, L.J. (2002) Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. SAGE
Keeley, J., Scoones, I. (2003) Understanding Environmental Policy Processes: Cases from Africa Earthscan, London.
Kütting, G. and Lipschutz, R. (Eds.) (2009) Environmental Governance: Power and Knowledge in a Local-Global World. Routledge, London.
Lange, P., Driessen, P.J., Sauer, A., Bornemann, B., Burger, P. (2013) Governing Towards Sustainability¿Conceptualizing Modes of Governance, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 15(3), p403-425
Leach, M., I. Scoones and A. Stirling (2010). Dynamic Sustainabilities: Technology, Environment, Social Justice, Earthscan. London
Lemos, M. and Agrawal, A. (2006). Environmental governance. Annual Review of Environmental Resources 31: 297-325
Loorbach, D., Frantzeskaki, F. & Avelino, F. (2017) Sustainability Transitions Research: Transforming Science and Practice for Societal Change, Annual Review of Environment and Resources 42 pp. 599-626
Meadowcroft, J., Langhelle, O., Ruud, A. (2012) Governance, Democracy and Sustainable Development: Moving Beyond the Impasse. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Ostrom, E. (1990) Governing the Commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Peet, R., Robbins, P. & Watts, M. (2011) Global Political Ecology. New York: Routledge
Robbins, P. (2012) Political Ecology: A critical introduction (2nd edition) Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell (read Part 1: 1 Political versus Apolitical Ecologies (p11))
Rotmans, J. & Loorbach, D. (2009) Complexity and Transition Management, Journal of Industrial Ecology 13 (2) pp. 184-196
Wunder, S. (2015) Revisiting the concept of payments for environmental services, Ecological Economics 117: 234-243
Young, O. R. (2002). "Evaluating the success of international environmental regimes: where are we now?" Global Environmental Change 12(1): 73-77
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The course creates space for students to develop their skills in confidently articulating complex ideas and insights on Environmental Governance. These skills are developed through class debates and discussions, group presentations and engaging in peer feedback. Professional skills in writing for different audiences will be developed through the assignments where both an academic paper and a blog post will be written. Through guest lectures, students will be exposed to practitioners, their organisations and work, thus providing employability orientation and increasing their professional network. Personal skills in working independently, planning time successfully and working in groups will be developed through class activities, and the assignments. Confidence in speaking in public, listening to others' views, reflecting on personal views and providing feedback to others will be encouraged through group exercises, debates and peer feedback. |
| Keywords | Environmental Governanace |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Clare Barnes
Tel: (0131 6)50 2287
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Kathryn Will
Tel: (0131 6)50 2624
Email: |
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