GY423     
Environment and Development

This information is for the 2015/16 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Benjamin Groom KGS. K203, Dr Charles Palmer KGS. K206, Dr Richard Perkins STC. S413 and Prof Eric Neumayer

Dr Emanuele Campiglio

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Environment and Development. This course is available on the MSc in African Development, MSc in Development Management, MSc in Development Studies and MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Pre-requisites

Students who have not completed a course in first year undergraduate level Economics might find it useful to audit EC100 Economics A

Course content

'Environment and Development' explores the complex relationship between environment and development using the concepts and tools used in applied economic analysis: ecological, development, environmental, and institutional. Focusing on a number of selected topics and issues of contemporary policy relevance, this relationship is examined in the MT at a more macro scale before moving to a micro-scale investigation of key ecosystem services and cross-cutting themes in LT.

MT: Environment-economy linkages and the concept of sustainable economic development; The 'source'-side: Resource availability for sustained economic growth; The 'sink'-side: Economic growth and the environment; Trade, investment and the environment; Measuring progress towards sustainability; Technological lock-in, innovation and system transformation; Corporate social responsibility: Drivers, strategy and outcomes.

LT: Environment-poverty trap and the role of population growth; Institutions and natural resource management; Biodiversity and development; Agriculture and food security; Water management and development; The energy transition and low-carbon development; Biofuels: food, fuel, and the environment; Tropical deforestation and dealing with market failure; Urban environment and development; Policy design and evaluation for environment and development

 

Teaching

15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the MT. 15 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the LT.

Indicative reading

MT: E Neumayer, Weak versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms, 4th edn, Edward Elgar, 2013; E Neumayer, Greening Trade and Investment: Environmental Protection without Protectionism, Earthscan, 2001. M Blowfield and A Murray, Corporate Responsibility: A Critical Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2011.

LT: R Lopez and M Toman, Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability. Columbia University Press, 2006. E Barbier, Natural resources and economic development, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Assessment

Exam (75%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
Essay (25%, 2500 words) in the LT.

(5,000 word extended essay (25%) for students of MSc Environment and Development not writing a dissertation).

Student performance results

(2011/12 - 2013/14 combined)

Classification % of students
Distinction 7.2
Merit 43.8
Pass 42.3
Fail 6.7

Key facts

Department: Geography & Environment

Total students 2014/15: 62

Average class size 2014/15: 13

Controlled access 2014/15: Yes

Lecture capture used 2014/15: Yes (MT & LT)

Value: One Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Self-management
  • Communication

Course survey results

(2011/12 - 2013/14 combined)

1 = "best" score, 5 = "worst" score

The scores below are average responses.

Response rate: 79.5%

Question

Average
response

Reading list (Q2.1)

1.9

Materials (Q2.3)

1.8

Course satisfied (Q2.4)

1.7

Lectures (Q2.5)

1.6

Integration (Q2.6)

1.7

Contact (Q2.7)

2.1

Feedback (Q2.8)

2.2

Recommend (Q2.9)

Yes

84%

Maybe

14.7%

No

1.3%