Environmental Studies

This course examines international & Australian approaches to conserving biodiversity values, ecological processes, products, goods & services in coastal zones, with an emphasis placed on planning & management of marine & coastal protected areas in a regional context.

This course examines various pollution problems, including the pollution sources, pollution identification, the dispersion, deposition, and their effects. The impacts on agriculture, forest, fishery, animal and human health are especially expressed with color pictures. The laws and regulatory methods in controlling the pollution are also discussed. Environmental consciousness in individual and the whole society is emphasized. Students are encouraged to do environmental protection through the homework that includes some personal practices and activities, to promote the environmental protection in the country. Text: E.J. Sun, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF ITS ADVERSE AFFECTS. Assessment: midterm report (40%), final exam (50%), participation and attendance (10%).

This course focuses on the functions of the biophysical environment of the city state of Singapore. The topics include geology, soils, river systems, water supply, natural reserves, green areas, land reclamation and coastal environments. The environmental problems that arise from the development of a large tropical city within a limited area, and the possible solutions for such problems are examined. The course emphasizes current events in Singapore and discusses what Singapore's environment may look like in the future.

Cities have become major actors on environmental policy. However, the crosscutting nature of environmental problems involves the city in a web of relationships with other levels of government and non-governmental actors. Therefore, the understanding of environmental policy in cities raises the need to unveil the “black box” of the different dimensions of governance (urban, metropolitan, multi-level). The aim of the course is to introduce students to the complexity of implementing public policies in urban contexts through the particular complexities of the environmental issues. For such purpose, the course addresses the basic concepts of policy analysis, the different discussions and theories on governance and orients them towards the specific case of environmental problems in different contexts. Particular attention is placed on air quality, mobility, and climate change.

The rapid decline of coral reefs around the world motivates research to better understand how this complex ecosystem will respond to future environmental changes. This course reviews current knowledge on reef organisms and coral reef ecosystems, and studies the factors responsible for reef degradation. The course also introduces basic elements to assess resilience of this ecosystem. Students are provided with an up-to-date understanding of the coral reef crisis and the immediate actions to take for the long-term conservation of these fragile ecosystems. Many examples are based on reefs in Taiwan, and speakers may be invited to illustrate specific topics.

This course explores the articulation between environmental attitudes and worldviews and how they contribute to shaping green political action in a context where the imminence of a global ecological crisis (global warming, threats on biodiversity, scarcity of resources) is no longer in question. The course covers a diversity of social sciences approaches: how conceptions of nature shape our attitudes to its enjoyment, understanding, and exploitation; the challenges to environmentally friendly public policies at the national, the European, and the international levels, including; the role of individuals from collective mobilization to the emergence of the “citizen-consumer”; the parliamentary and the extra-parliamentary strategies of environmental movements and of the counter-movements, in the EU and beyond.