Postgraduate
MSc, Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate in Applied Environmental Economics
Syllabus
C02
Economic principles
A rigorous introduction to microeconomic theory covering theories and
applications of individual and market demand, as well as production
economics. The final part focuses on welfare economics and its application
to imperfect competition and factor markets.
C121
Economics of environmental policy
A wide-ranging, theoretically rigorous coverage of the economic concepts
and principles of environmental policy. This course provides the knowledge
and analytical tools to design and evaluate public policies towards
the environment.
C22
Environmental valuation
Develops the theory and techniques of the valuation of non-market goods.
The course focuses on the techniques and methods for putting monetary
values on the environment and shows how these can be incorporated in
economic decision making at both the macro and project level.
C105
Natural resource economics
Examines a number of economic models of natural resource allocation
and demonstrates their application to policy making and natural resource
management to provide useful insights to both policy makers and managers.
The second part considers the economic dimension of sustainable economic
growth and development.
C05
Applied econometrics
Provides the essential skills required for undertaking empirical work
in agricultural economics. It covers the estimation, inference and diagnostic
testing of linear regression models, and applies the theory using the
program MICROFIT.
C100
Ecological science and management
This module provides a
comprehensive understanding of temporal and spatial dynamics of
interacting components of natural and semi-natural environments for
their management. It deals with the theoretical and mechanistic
framework for understanding ecology, and the study of interactions of
organisms with each other and with their environments. It introduces key
concepts in ecological theory and the functioning of natural
environments, referring to the dynamics of populations and communities
and the interaction of organisms with their environment at local,
landscape and regional/global scales. It examines ecological theory
underlying models of sustainability and conservation and explains
spatial and temporal patterns observed in natural and perturbed
environments. It goes on to explore ecological processes occurring over
regional and global scales, as these are essential to the functioning of
both natural and human-dominated ecosystems, focusing specifically on
the practice of ecology in applied contexts through issues such as
biodiversity conservation, human demography, land degradation and
agriculture: four interrelated topics that are central to human culture
and welfare and are the focus of much debate and controversy.
Please note: this module
will be supplied as electronic courseware on CD Rom
C163
Ethics and Environmental Practice
Considers environmental
values in relation to ethical principles and cultural traditions.
Outlines the development of an environmentalist movement, the interface
of science and the environment and the political impact of environmental
concern.
C108 Environmental auditing
This module
will show you how the environmental performance of a company or
organisation can be assessed. It illustrates processes and
techniques by using appropriate case studies. By studying both
theory and specific examples you will learn how costs can often
be offset by energy saving and waste minimisation.
C107
Environmental impact assessment
Explains the EI process and surveys its application through case studies.
Shows how impacts and their mitigation can be incorporated into the
process. Considers how EI can be used in a strategic role, and as a
tool for achieving sustainable development.
C114
International environmental law
Outlines the international legal processes through which international
environmental issues are addressed, and the underlying and guiding principles
and various techniques for implementing these. The course considers
the success of the international legal instruments and processes under
consideration in achieving their objectives and how they might be improved.
C134
Project planning and management
Covers the planning and management of public and private investment
in the agricultural sector. Students learn economic concepts for project
identification, preparation, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation, and
the methods of logical framework, financial and economic cost benefit
analysis, and social and environmental assessment.
C126
Water resource management
Applies economics to the evaluation of water resource policy. Topics
include key economic concepts, the management and sustainability of
irrigation and water supply, user participation, and environmental,
social and political dimensions of water use.
C117
Introduction to biodiversity and conservation management
This course provides a
broad introduction to the conservation of biological diversity with an
emphasis on conservation within ecosystems. It provides an outline of
the major elements of global biodiversity: evolution and distribution,
and examines the threats to biodiversity and the imperative to conserve.
It explains some of the fundamental principles of genetic, species and
ecosystem diversity, providing an overview of the techniques available
to conserve biodiversity both in situ and ex situ. A further theme is
the role of protected areas for conservation and management of
biodiversity and the issue of conservation outside protected areas.
Social, ethical and policy issues surrounding biodiversity conservation
are reviewed at appropriate points in the course.
C106 Research Methods
This module
aims to provide an introduction to research methods for environmental
studies and covers methods appropriate to environmental science and
technology and social science. The principal objectives are to provide:
an understanding of how to identify research problems and formulate
research questions; an understanding of the various types of data; an
understanding of how to review literature; knowledge of how to choose an
appropriate experimental or survey design; familiarity with a number of
quantitative and qualitative data collection methods; familiarity with
methods of data collation and storage; an understanding of the most
important uses of statistics in you own field; the ability to
appropriately choose basic statistical methods and apply them; basic
familiarity with the operation of a spreadsheet package and the ability
to use it to do statistics; basic familiarity with the operation of one
software package for statistical analysis; understanding of how to
interpret statistics from environmental studies; competency in
writing-up the results; knowledge of how to write a research proposal.
Please note: this
module will be supplied as electronic courseware on CD Rom
Research
report - MSc students only
Examples of research report topics
-
estimating the economic value of the Galapagos Islands National
Park using the contingent valuation and travel cost methods
-
the economics of enforcing environmental regulations
-
the political economy of fertiliser taxation in France
-
putting a price tag on conservation: cost-benefit analysis of Venezuela’s
National Parks
-
an economic appraisal of environmental cross compliance within the
Common Agricultural Policy
-
the justification and application of monetary valuation of non-traded
environmental goods
-
international environmental governance in view of the world summit
on sustainable development: a roadmap for reform
-
a comparative analysis of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia (Zimoza)
fishery policies and management practices