Students successfully completing the course should be able to:

 
1.   Comprehend the complexity and various forms and dimensions of development and environment issues

2.    Recognize the multiple dimensions of sustainability and the linkages between them, and how these dimensions inform policy processes

3.    Discuss the history, usefulness and effectiveness of the concept of sustainable development

4.     Understand how global capitalism and economic processes shape environmental change and policies

5.    Critically assess the politics of sustainability and the various theoretical perspectives of development and environment

6.    Communicate effectively about ideas and issues of development and environment

7.    Conduct independent research of an environmental case study with a high level of originality, quality and creativity

8.    Work effectively in a team and in tutorial situations

9.    Apply analytical and problem-solving skills to specific sustainable development problems

10.  Employ effectively online technologies (MyUni) for communication and exchange of own ideas and knowledge

Thereis no prescribed textbook for this course. All required readings and other
learning and teaching activities and resources are available on MyUni.

Introductory Readings

Elliott, J.A. (2009).‘Sustainable Development.’ In Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Human
Geography, pp. 117-131.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2003). ‘Integrating Environment and Development,
1972-2002.’ Chapter 1, Global Environmental Outlook (GEO) 3. Available at http://web.unep.org/geo/assessments/global-assessments/global-environment-outlook-3

Perreault, T. (2009). ‘Environment and Development’. In Castree, N. et al. (eds.). A Companion to Environmental Geography.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Highly recommended:

Redclift, M. and Springett, D. (eds.) (2015). Routledge International Handbook of Sustainable Development. Hoboken
: Taylor and Francis. Online book in library.


United Nations and SD

SD Knowledge Platform: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org    [highly recommended]

Agenda 21: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf

Major Agreements and Conventions https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=122


Recent Global Reports on Sustainable Development
   
UN (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

UN, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (2014). An Action Agenda for Sustainable Development. http://unsdsn.org/resources/publications/an-action-agenda-for-sustainable-development/
     
United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2012). Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A
future worth choosing. New York: United Nations.  http://www.un.org/gsp/report

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2011). Human Development Report 2011:Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All. New York: UNDP. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2011/


General readings: Sustainable Development and Sustainability

Books

Adams, W.M. (2001). Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in the Third World. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.

Atkinson, G., Dietz, S., and Neumayer, E. (eds.) (2007). Handbook of Sustainable Development. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Baker, Susan, Kousis, Maria, Richardson, Dick and Young, Stephen (eds.). (1997).The Politics of Sustainable Development: Theory, Policy and Practice within the European Union, London: Routledge.

Baker, S. (2006). Sustainable Development. London: Routledge.

Beder, Sharon (2003). The Nature of Sustainable Development. Newham, Australia: Scribe Publications.

Bigg, T. (ed.) (2004). Survival for a Small Planet: The Sustainable Development Agenda. London: Earthscan.

Diesendorf, M. and Hamilton, C. (eds.) (1997). Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas for an Ecologically Sustainable Future.
Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Dryzek, J. (1997). The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jacobs, M. (ed.) (1997). Greening the Millennium? The New Politics of the Environment, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Elliott, J.A. (2006). An Introduction to Sustainable Development. 3rd edition. London: Routledge.

Johnston, J., Gismondi, M. and Goodman, J. (eds.) (2006). Nature’s Revenge: Reclaiming Sustainability in an Age of Corporate Globalization. Ontario: Broadview Press.

Johnston, R.J., Taylor, P.J. and Watts, M.J. (eds.) (2002). Geographies of Global Change: Remapping the World. 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Keiner, M. (ed.) (2006). The Future of Sustainability. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.

Kirkby, J., O’Keefe, P. and Timberlake, L. (eds.) (1995). The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Development. London: Earthscan.

Lafferty, W.M. and Langhelle, O. (eds.) (1999). Towards Sustainable Development: On the Goals of Development and the Conditions of
Sustainability, London: MacMillan

Lee, K., Holland, A. and McNeill, D. (eds.) (2000). Global Sustainable Development in the Twenty-First Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Neumayer, E. (1999). Weak versus Strong Sustainability: Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Purvis, M. and Grainger, A. (eds.) (2004). Exploring Sustainable Development: Geographical Perspectives. London: Earthscan.

Sachs, W. (1999). Planet dialectics: explorations in environment and development. London: Zed Books.

Sachs, W. (ed.) (1993). Global Ecology: A New Arena of Political Conflict. London: Zed Books.

United Nations (2002). Global Challenge, Global Opportunity: Trends in Sustainable Development. New York: United Nations.

OECD (2002). Working Together Towards Sustainable Development: the OECD Experience. Paris: Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development.

World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Brundtland Report]

Journal articles/Book chapters/Papers

Adams, W.M. (2002). ‘Sustainable Development?’. In Johnston, R.J., Taylor, P.J., and Watts, M. Geographies of Global Change: remapping the world. 2nd edition, pp. 412-426.

AtKisson, A. (2006). ‘Sustainability is Dead – Long Live Sustainability.’ In Keiner, M. (ed.) (2006). The Future of Sustainability. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, pp. 231-243.

Beckerman W. (1994). ‘Sustainable development: is it a useful concept?’ Environmental Values 3: 191–209.

Binswanger, H.C. (1998). ‘Making sustainability work.’ Journal of Ecological Economics 27: 3-11.

Diesendorf, M. (2001). 'Models of sustainability and sustainable development', International Journal of Agricultural Resources,  Governance and Ecology 1 (2): 109-122.

Diesendorf, M.(2000). 'Sustainability and sustainable development', in Dunphy, D, Benveniste, J, Griffiths, A and Sutton, P (eds.). Sustainability: The corporate challenge of the 21st century, Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Chasek, P.S. and M.A.L. Miller (2005). ‘Sustainable Development in the Twenty-First Century.’ In M.Snarr and D.N. Snarr (eds.). Introducing Global Issues. 3rd edition. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.

Ekins, P. (1993). ‘Making development sustainable.’ In Sachs, W. (ed.). Global Ecology: A New Arena of Political Conflict. London: Zed Books, pp. 91-103.

Fisher, W.F. (1995). ‘Full of Sound and Fury? Struggling Toward Sustainable Development in India’s Narmada Valley.’ In W.F. Fisher (ed.). Toward Sustainable Development: Struggling Over India’s Narmada River. London: M.E. Sharpe, pp. 445-461.

Glasby, G.B. (2002). ‘Sustainable development: the need for a new paradigm.’ Environment, Development and Sustainability 4(4): 333-345.

Harris, J.M. (2204) Basic Principles for Sustainable Development, Global Development and Environment Institute, working paper 00-04. Available at: http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/publications/Working_Papers/Sustainable%20Development.PDF

Holden, E. and Linnerud, K. (2007). ‘The Sustainable Development Area: Satisfying Basic Needs and Safeguarding Ecological Sustainability.’ Sustainable Development 15: 174-187.

Lafferty, William M. (1996). ‘The Politics of Sustainable Development: Global Norms for National Implementation’, Environmental
Politics 5(2): 185-208.

Lélé, S.M. (1991). ‘Sustainable development: a critical review.’ World Development 19(6): 607-621.

McManus, P. (1996). ‘Contested terrains: Politics, stories, and discourses of sustainability.’ Environmental Politics 5: 48-53.

McManus, P. (2000). ‘Sustainable development.’ In Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D, Pratt, G. and Watts, M. (eds.). The
Dictionary of Human Geography. 4th edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

McNeill, D. (2000). ‘The Concept of Sustainable Development.’ In Lee, K., Holland, A. and McNeill, D. (eds.). Global Sustainable Development in the Twenty-First Century. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000, pp. 10-30.

New Internationalist  (2000).‘Sustainability. Searching for Solutions’, No. 329 (Special Issue), November 2000.

Parayil, G. (1998). ‘Sustainable development: The fallacy of a normatively-neutral development paradigm.’ Journal of Applied Philosophy 15(2.): 179-194.

Parris, T.M. (2003). ‘Toward a sustainability transition: the international consensus.’ Environment 45: 12-22.

Redclift, M. (1992). ‘The meaning of sustainable development’. Geoforum 23(3): 395-403.

Rios Osorio, L.A., Ortiz Lobato, M. and A’Lvarez del Castillo, X. (2005). ‘Debates on sustainable development: towards a
holistic view of reality.’ Environment, Development and Sustainability 7: 501-518.

Robinson, J. (2004) Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development. Ecological Economics 48(4): 369-384.

O’Riordan, T. (1993). ‘The Politics of Sustainability.’ In Turner, R.K. (ed.), Sustainable Environmental Economics and Management: Principles and Practice, London: Belhaven Press, pp. 37-69.

O’Riordan, T. (2000). ‘The sustainability debate.’ In O’Riordan, T. (ed.). Environmental Science for Environmental Management. 2nd edition. Harlow: Pearson Education, pp. 29-42.

Sachs, W. (1997). ‘Sustainable development.’ In Redclift, M. and Woodgate, G. (eds.). The International Handbook of Environmental Sociology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 71-82.

Sachs, W. (1999). ‘Sustainable development: on the political anatomy of an oxymoron’. In Sachs, W. Planet dialectics: explorations in environment and development. London: Zed Books, pp. 71-89.

Saunier, R.E. (1999). ‘Sustainable development, global sustainability.’ In Alexander, D.E. and Fairbridge, R.W. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Environmental Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academics, pp. 587-592.

Sen, A.K. (2000). ‘The Ends and Means of Sustainability’. Key Note Address at the International Conference on ‘Transition to Sustainability’ of the Inter Academy Panel on International Issues, Tokyo.

Sneddon, C.S. (2000). ‘Sustainability in ecological economics, ecology and livelihoods.’ Progress in Human Geography 24(4):
521-549.

Taylor, L. (1996). 'Sustainable development: An introduction.’ World Development 24(2): 215-225.

Turner, R. K. (1993). ‘Sustainability: Principles and Practice.’ In Turner, R.K. (ed.), Sustainable Environmental Economics and Management: Principles and Practice, London: Belhaven Press, pp. 3-36.

Williams, C.C. and Millington, A.C. (2004). ‘The diverse and contested meanings of sustainable development.’ The Geographical Journal 170(2): 99–104.   

Woodhouse, P. (2000).’ Environmental Degradation and Sustainability.’ In Allen, Tim and Thomas, A. (eds): Poverty and Development into the 21st Century. London: Oxford University Press.

MyUni is an important learning tool and means of communication and knowledge exchange in this course. MyUni provides students with course materials, announcements and many other features to help manage their study. There are Learning Modules for each week which
students are required to do as preparation for the 2 hour long tutorials.


NOTE: there is a completely ONLINE or EXTERNAL course (DEVT 2004EX Environment and Development) for those students who need the flexibility and are not able to attend the compulsory 2 hour tutorials each week.

The teaching in this course is based on student-centred learning principles and strategies. Students are seen as partners in the learning journey. A range of teaching methods are employed to involve and integrate the students in the learning process, and provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge of the topic.

The course provides various assessment methods and choices to accommodate different learning styles. Through case studies and examples the students learn problem-solving skills, and have to work collaboratively in 2 hour long workshop-style tutorials (the attendance of the tutorials is compulsory).

In short, the teaching and learning in this course is about active, collaborative and peer-assisted learning where students actively participate and work together in the learning process and take responsibility or their own learning.

The course employs a blended approach to teaching and learning where the traditional face to face lectures and tutorials are supplemented by effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the online teaching and learning environment of MyUni.

University policies suggest for a 3-unit course that there should be 12 hours of learning activities per week including
attendance in lectures and tutorials. The times suggested here are guidelines for students to achieve the course requirements and to successfully complete the course. You will need to allocate appropriate time for your study (contact and non-contact time):

Structured learning (lectures and tutorials): 3 hours per week
Reading/Preparation: 2 hours per week
Preparation for assignments: 3 hours per week
MyUni: 4 hours per week

The Learning Activities are structured in scaffolded weekly content discussion. All the information and resources about each week's
Learning Activities are provided on MyUni.
The overall course content and learning activities (subject to minor changes) are as follows:

Week 1              Introduction: Environment and Development

Week 2              Social Theory: Environmentalism, Developmentalism, Political ecology

Week 3              Conceptualisations of nature

Week 4              History and Actors of ‘Sustainable Development’: Rio+20 summit on SD

Week 5              Economic sustainability: green economy and green growth

Week 6              Ecological sustainability

Week 7              Political sustainability: green citizenship, green state, green democracy

Week 8              Cultural sustainability: gender, culture, knowledge

Week 9              Social sustainability: community, poverty and social justice

Week 10            Environmental Security, Justice and Ethics

Week 11            Global Futures: science and technology, education

Week 12            Conclusion, Review

Tutorial attendance is a compulsory part of the course. Students are required to attend at least 90% of all tutorials to be able
to pass this course.

Students work in small groups in tutorials on specific case studies and examples about environment and development.

1. Assessment: to be able to pass the course you must complete and submit for assessment all THREE (3) assessment components with all of its parts as described in this course profile.

2. Personal Learning Plan: not assessed; but the submission is compulsory
There is a process of negotiating the assessment format (e.g. weighting of assessment (within 10% maximum difference) and timing
of submissions) at the beginning of the course. Students prepare a Personal Learning Plan (PLP), due at the end of week 3, which
states their choices for assessment and feedback. This is like a contract between course convenor and student. Student have the responsibility to adhere to their outlined PLP.

3.. Tutorial attendance and participation: Tutorial attendance is a compulsory component of the course, and is monitored during the course. You are requested to notify your tutor as soon as possible if you have to miss a tutorial. You are required
to attend at least 90% of the tutorials to be able to pass tcourse.
       
4. Referencing: the Harvard (author-date) referencing system must be used for the written assignments. Your work needs to include references (references are not counted towards the word count).

An information sheet for each assessment will be provided on MyUni.
In addition, there will be examples of previous students' assignments.

All assignments are to be submitted electronically on MyUni.