Environmental Studies

International environmental law (IEL) is an innovative, dynamic, and rapidly developing field that seeks to address global environmental issues such as the impacts of, amongst others, climate change and illegal trade in endangered species. As the causes, effects, and potential solutions of such global phenomena transcend national boundaries, international cooperation is increasingly important as reflected in a growing number of international environmental agreements. This course offers an overview of the evolution of IEL, as well as an introduction to the major concepts, cases, and principles that shape effective global environmental governance. Throughout the course, attention is focused on international responses to environmental issues with a transboundary or global scope. Following the introductory lectures, which set the scene by introducing the rules and principles of IEL, students have an opportunity to explore the role of international law in regulating environmental problems such as, inter alia, climate change, biodiversity loss, wildlife trading, and marine pollution. Students also consider the role of IEL in strengthening the rights of nature movement, as well as the governance of the oceans, the Arctic, and Antarctica.

This course re-presents indigenous South and North American voices in a global ecological debate by discussing specific study cases of these groups' negotiations with environmental entities in light of key cosmological, ecological, political, and social categories prevalent among these groups. Using insights drawn from anthropological research, the course deconstructs Western commonplaces pervading the ecological debate, such as collective ownership and co-existence with Nature in non-modern societies, and problematizes the Nature/Culture dichotomy that stands at the core of our environmental imagination. Considering these groups’ economic situation and development aspirations, the course discusses the equation of cultural preservation with ecological conservation. The course questions the possibility and implications of granting indigenous ecological knowledge scientific validity and, taking into account the colonialist reverberations of a global ecological perspective, considers if it can be embraced without violating indigenous sovereignty and rights to territorial integrity and self-determination.

This course introduces the science and practice of conservation biology, beginning with an overview of conservation issues, the value of biodiversity, extinction risks, and the history and philosophy of conservation. It explores the conservation of biodiversity at multiple levels, including the diversity of genes, species, populations, and ecosystems. At the species and population levels, the role of life history, behavior, and management of populations in the real world is covered. The conservation and management of ecosystems is considered in terms of important processes, such as disturbance, re-wilding, and threats by alien species. Issues considered here include incentives, access, who benefits from conservation, legal aspects, and management policies. 

Please note that the course extends into January, available for year students only. The course focuses on the following topics: the geological evolution of the planet earth and the formation of sea basins; the physical and chemical characteristics of the water masses; physiography and geomorphology of the seabed, genesis, and characteristics of rocks and sediments; sedimentological processes and distribution of benthic environments; the interactions between marine organisms and the abiotic environment; the main types of marine ecosystems and their functional characteristics; and the processes of formation of populations and their distribution in space and time. The course is divided into lectures and practical sessions, in the field and/or in the laboratory, with collection and analysis of samples/data and interpretation of results. Visits to the ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences) of the CNR of Bologna where the tools used in oceanographic and marine biology campaigns and the principles and techniques for the analysis and interpretation of the acquired data are presented. Visit to the Environmental Sciences Laboratories, of the Master's Degree in Marine Biology, at the Ravenna Campus.

This course examines the evolution of “Green Germany” through history, up to the present moment. The course studies key moments in the history of the German relationship to nature and the environment, looking at the role of grassroot movements on the one hand and state policy on the other hand. Among the topics discussed are: the movement for nature conservation at the end of the 19th century during industrialisation; the period of National Socialism, when the legal foundations of the protection of the environment were laid; the environmental movement of the 1970s in West Germany; environmental protection in East Germany, and, finally, current debates and conflicts around the conservation of nature and landscape on the one hand and climate protection as well as energy policy on the other hand, looking at government policy and protest movements. The course also examines the specifically German attachment to the forest; accordingly, one session is held in Grunewald, the large forest in Berlin.