The world faces challenging environmental problems. They are challenging because different people typically contribute differently to environmental change, and because its effects will be felt differently by different people in different places.
Course Content
This free online course will help you understand how injustice is a common feature of many environmental problems. Over 5 weeks, we’ll look at deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change and other environmental issues, asking questions such as:
- Can we manage tropical forests to increase timber revenues and carbon stocks, while ensuring that the people who live in them can fulfil their own subsistence needs and vision of a healthy ecosystem?
- How can protected areas strike the right balance between contemporary global interests in species conservation, local interests, the needs of future generations and rights of nature?
We’ll show that sustainable environmental management requires attention to justice - that we need to strike the right balance between the needs, interests, rights and aspirations of various stakeholders today, and those of both nature and future generations.
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...
- Explain the dimensions of environmental justice
- Evaluate different ideas of justice
- Investigate local environmental justice struggles
- Apply an environmental justice framing to global challenges
- Explore practical techniques to empower marginalised communities
Eligibility and Applications
This course is designed for people who are already working on environmental problems or are familiar with environmental issues. It seeks to address environmentalists around the world although a background on international development will be useful.