ENM443 Resilence Thinking and Ecologically Sustainable Development (8)

Abstract

The transition to more sustainable resource use requires fundamental changes in our thinking about the environment. We need to better understand that nature and humanity are dynamic and co-evolving, and that achieving sustainability and addressing global warming is not simply about decreased consumption, but rather about increasing our capacity to meet a range of challenges. Resilience thinking focuses understanding the dynamics and development of complex social–ecological systems. It focuses on the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganise while undergoing change, so as to retain essentially the same function, structure, identity and feedbacks. Communities must seriously consider ways to foster resilience in our transformation to a more sustainable society

+ Subject Availability Modes and Location

No offerings have been identified for this subject in 2014.
Continuing students should consult the SAL for current offering details prior to contacting their course coordinator: ENM443
Where differences exist between the handbook and the SAL, the SAL should be taken as containing the correct subject offering details.

Subject information

Duration	Grading System	School:
One session	HD/FL	School of Environmental Sciences

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:

have an in-depth understanding of the nature of complex social / ecological systems.
have an in-depth understanding of key terminology, principles, concepts and theory underpinning resilence thinking and their application in resolving environmental issues
be able to review, consolidate and synthesise knowledge from an number of case studies in order to critically understand the effectivess of various strategies associated with implementing resilence thinking
be able to develop appropriate strategies that address a range of global environmental and social problems

Syllabus

The subject will cover the following topics:

Ecologically sustainable development, the challenges and the current state of our resource use
Resilience: the history of a concept
General theories on resilence: Adaptability and transformability; specified and general resilience; and multiscale resilence
The application of resilence thinking to address environmental problems in social ecological systems
Governance and management of social-ecological systems for the the future

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