701-1651-00L  Environmental Governance

SemesterAutumn Semester 2022
LecturersE. Lieberherr
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentNumber of participants is limited to 30.

Priority is given to the target groups until 19.09.2022,

Target groups:
Environmental Sciences MSc
Agricultural Sciences MSc

Waiting list will be deleted on 23.09.2022


AbstractThe course addresses environmental policies, focusing on new steering approaches, which are generally summarized as environmental governance. The course also provides students with tools to analyze environmental policy processes and assesses the key features of environmental governance by examining various practical environmental policy examples.
Learning objectiveTo understand how an environmental problem may (not) become a policy and explain political processes, using basic concepts and techniques from political science.

To analyze the evolution as well as the key elements of environmental governance.

To be able to identify the main challenges and opportunities for environmental governance and to critically discuss them with reference to various practical policy examples.
ContentImprovements in environmental quality and sustainable management of natural resources cannot be achieved through technical solutions alone. The quality of the environment and the achievement of sustainable development strongly depend on human behavior and specifically the human uses of nature. To influence human behavior, we rely on public policies and other societal rules, which aim to steer the way humans use natural resources and their effects on the environment. Such steering can take place through government intervention alone. However, this often also involves governance, which includes the interplay between governmental and non-governmental actors, the use of diverse tools such as emission standards or financial incentives to steer actors' behavior and can occur at the local, regional, national or international level.

In this course, we will address both the practical aspects of as well as the scientific debate on environmental governance. The course gives future environmental experts a strong basis to position themselves in the governance debate, which does not preclude government but rather involves a spectrum from government to governance.

Key questions that this course seeks to answer: What are the core characteristics of environmental challenges from a policy perspective? What are key elements of 'environmental governance' and how legitimate and effective are these approaches in addressing persistent environmental challenges?
Lecture notesLecture slides, a script and additional course material will be provided on Moodle.
Prerequisites / NoticeA detailed course schedule will be made available at the beginning of the semester.
During the lecture we will work with Moodle. We ask that all students register themselves on this platform before the lecture.

We recommend that students have (a) three-years BSc education of a (technical) university; (b) successfully completed Bachelor introductory course to environmental policy (Entwicklungen nationaler Umweltpolitik (or equivalent)) and (c) familiarity with key issues in environmental policy and some fundamental knowledge of one social science or humanities discipline (political science, economics, sociology, history, psychology, philosophy)
CompetenciesCompetencies
Subject-specific CompetenciesConcepts and Theoriesassessed
Method-specific CompetenciesAnalytical Competenciesassessed
Decision-makingassessed
Problem-solvingassessed
Project Managementassessed
Social CompetenciesCommunicationassessed
Cooperation and Teamworkassessed
Self-presentation and Social Influence assessed
Sensitivity to Diversityassessed
Negotiationassessed
Personal CompetenciesAdaptability and Flexibilityassessed
Critical Thinkingassessed
Integrity and Work Ethicsassessed
Self-awareness and Self-reflection assessed
Self-direction and Self-management assessed