Environmental Studies

This course provides an introduction to the fundamental aspects of modern-day climate change. It develops an understanding of how and why climate is changing; examines the role of humans in driving this change; and looks to future rates and impacts of global warming particularly in the field of atmospheric and oceanic science.

Why and how do resource use and other human footprints generate international governance challenges – and in what ways does the globalization of the world economy affect such challenges? How important are international institutions for the management of the world's petroleum resources? What is meant by ‘regime effectiveness’ – and what conditions can explain success or failure in efforts to establish or strengthen international cooperative arrangements on natural resources and the environment? This course offers an introduction to important characteristics of international environmental and resource politics and provides tools for explaining differences in international negotiation processes and their outputs, outcomes and impacts. The roles and significance of international institutions are central, with special attention to processes of formation, change and interplay as well as various conditions that can affect their operation and effectiveness. The course provides insight into the roles transnational companies and environmental organizations play in international environmental and resource negotiations and how the positions and influences of main actors such as the USA, the EU, and China are affected by domestic political and economic conditions. The course demonstrates how broader scholarly debates, like those between realists, liberalists, and constructivists, can illuminate processes and outcomes in international environmental and resource politics.

The course focuses on international and global environmental issues related to sustainable development. Lectures and seminars present the issues through selected literature. The course covers the concept of sustainable development, environmental history, climate change, environmental impacts in connection with the use of natural resources, and energy issues. The course also discusses consumption patterns and the environment, environmental economics, the role of international institutions, policy making, and cultural and ethical aspects on environment.

This course connects the fundamental wood science concepts to primary and secondary wood processing. Specifically, the course provides advance knowledge in processing of solid wood, wood-based composite, and modified wood products from the theoretical and practical aspects highlighting production yield, product evaluation, quality control management, manufacturing technology, and environmental impacts.

This course aims to understand the fundamentals of environmental physics, micrometeorology and relating disciplines so as to develop the ability to conduct a research on forest meteorology, forest hydrology, or related fields. This course also aims to develop critical thinking by providing the mathematical explanations of the theories. 

This course focuses on the use of market based instruments (MBIs) for environmental management and sustainable development. It compares the regulatory approaches of environmental management to those employing MBIs at different special scales and examines the types of policy instruments that can be utilized for environmental management (e.g. EU Emissions Trading Scheme, Environmental Tax Reform etc.). It examines the institutional and agency frameworks necessary for the successful implementation of MBIs.