COURSE DESCRIPTION

Environment and sustainable development


Programme:

Environmental and Regional Studies (3rd level)

Modul:

Course code: DT002
Year of study: 1st year


Course principal:
Assoc. Prof. Urban Šilc, Ph. D.

ECTS: 6

Workload: lectures 40 hours, seminar 20 hours, individual work 120 hours.
Course type: mandatory
Languages: Slovene, English
Learning and teaching methods: lectures, seminar, e-learning

 

Course syllabus (download)

Prerequisite:

Finished second Bologna level in the appropriate field or University degree VII.

 

Content (Syllabus outline):

  • biodiversity, evaluation of biodiversity
  • reasons for biodiversity loss
  • basic methodology of conservation biology / nature conservation
  • sources of environmental pollution, their operation and environmental impacts (transport, agriculture, industry and mining, energy, households)
  • society’s responses to human impacts on the environment, environmental paradigm for sustainable development
  • modern environmental problems in cities and the role of green spaces
  • understanding natural disasters as part of the modern landscape, natural disasters as a limiting and stimulating factor for economic development
  • modern management of natural disasters
  • the link between the biodiversity loss due to environmental pollution and impact of nature on society through natural hazards because of negative human actions

 

Readings:

  • Kryštufek,B.,1999:Osnove varstvene biologije.Tehniška založba Slovenije.Ljubljana.
  • Pullin, A.S, 2002: Conservation Biology, Cambridge University Press, Cambrdige.
  • Dennis, R. L. H., 2010: A Resource-Based Habitat View for Conservation: Butterflies in the British Landscape, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
  • Smrekar, A., Breg Valjavec, M., Polajnar Horvat, K., Tiran, J. 2019: The geography of urban environmental protection in Slovenia: The case of Ljubljana. Geoscapes 1. Ljubljana.
  • Nauser, M., Steiner, D. 2016: Human Ecology. London, New York. Routledge.
  • Komac, B., Zorn, M. 2007: Pobočni procesi in človek [Slope processes and man]. Geografija Slovenije 15. Založba ZRC, Ljubljana.
  • Keller, E. A. DeVecchio, D. E., Blodgett, R. H. 2019: Natural hazards : Earth’s processes as hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. London, New York. Routledge.

 

Objectives and competences:

  • basic knowledge of the nature conservation challenges and their solutions
  • basic knowledge of environmental pollution sources and understanding their operation and impacts on the environment
  • understanding of the fundamental interdependence between spatial development of society and natural processes in the case of natural hazards
  • ability to comprehend the city as an ecosystem and awareness of the importance of green spaces in cities, understanding city as a part of a wider landscape
  • understanding the paradigm of sustainable development and its importance for the management of modern cities

 

Intended learning outcomes:

  • understanding the evaluation of biodiversity patterns and the ecosystems functioning
  • in-depth understanding of selected modern nature conservation and environmental issues, as reflected in natural disasters, and their management
  • the ability to identify sources of environmental pollution and their impacts on landscape
  • the ability to identify the long-term interaction between natural and social elements of the landscape in the case of a complex system such as natural disasters
  • the ability to comprehensively evaluate the urban environment and green spaces in cities, e.g. in the light of climate change
  • ability to understand the complexity of the paradigm of sustainable development and its integration into human activity

 

Assessment:
Oral exam (80 %), written paper (20 %).

MODULE GENERAL ELECTIVE COURSES