Admission requirements
This course is an elective module for the MSc Programme on Governance of Sustainability, and also open to students from the MSc Industrial Ecology
Description
The Netherlands experiences a nitrogen and sustainability crisis since the judgment of the council of state in May 2019 about the programmatic approach nitrogen (PAS). This is a good example of the conflicts of interest between the economic growth on the one side and nature quality on the other. During this course you will be introduced to the complexity of the issue through lectures on the historical background of the nitrogen issue, the legislative and juridical aspects, the role and interest of different stakeholders and the role of politics. Furthermore, by using the Nitrogen Footprint model you will learn about the consequences of your consumption pattern for the nitrogen losses to the environment.
Course objectives
After this course you have/are able to:
Evaluate the different aspects and drivers in the nitrogen challenge and quantify the impacts of food and lifestyle choices on sustainability
Weigh the balance between economic benefits and ecological benefits and give concrete examples
Analyze the roles of different stakeholders in nitrogen management and sustainability and its success and failure
Use and evaluate Nitrogen Footprint model
Develop future policies and possible solutions related to sustainability
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have successfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
By lectures, feedback sessions, using the Nitrogen Footprint model, discussion and self-study. The lectures and the debate at the end of the course are compulsory to attend. It will not be possible to follow the lectures online.
Assessment method
Assignment 1:
Student nitrogen low lifestyle paper. Describe a student nitrogen low lifestylebased on the Nitrogen footprint tool in 2 pages. The 2 pager will be assessed and it weights 25% of the final grade. This assignment will be presented during the first lecture.
Assignment 2:
Stakeholder position paper. Students will individually write a stakeholder position paper with clear arguments supported by facts on how they would see the nitrogen crisis to be solved from the perspective of a stakeholder assigned to them. This assignment is graded and accounts for 50% of the final grade.
Assignment 3:
Stakeholder debate and presentation. In groups of 4-5, students will have a discussion/debate on how to solve the Dutch nitrogen crisis together with all stakeholders. Students will present the outcomes of this stakeholder debate in presentations to the rest of the class. The presentations are graded and account for 25% of the final grade.
The student will pass the course if the overall weighted mark for the three assignments is above 5.5. There will be no exams and it is possible to resubmit a paper that was marked insufficient after one month of the grading of the paper.
Reading list
De Vries, W., Kros, H., Kroeze C., and Seitzinger,S. P., (2013) Assessing planetary and regional nitrogen boundaries related to food security and adverse environmental impacts. Curr. Opin. Env. Sust. 5, 392–402.
Erisman et al. 2015: Nitrogen a vital resource. Scientific brief: https://science.vu.nl/en/Images/Nitrogen-Report_spread%5B1%5D_tcm296-452193.pdf
Erisman et al. 2021: Set ambitious targets for agriculture (online 21 jan)
European Nitrogen Assessment (2011) http://nine-esf.org/node/360/ENA-Book.html
Sutton et al. 2013 Our Nutrient World http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/500700/1/N500700BK.pdf
UNEP (2019) Frontiers 2018/19 Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.Sutton et al. 2013
van Grinsven, H. J. M., M. Holland, B. H. Jacobsen, Z. Klimont, M. a. Sutton, and W. Jaap Willems. 2013. Costs and Benefits of Nitrogen for Europe and Implications for Mitigation. Environ Sci Technol 47: 3571-3579, doi: 10.1021/es303804g.
Registration
Students can register themselves via MyStudymap for each course, exam and retake. Do this on time, before the start of the course. You can view your personal schedule in MyTimetable after logging in. Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
After registering for an exam, you must confirm your attendance via MyStudymap. Without this confirmation, you are not allowed to participate in the exam or retake of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Furthermore, there are two registration periods per year:
First semester / fall semester: opens in July
Second semester / spring semester: opens in December
More information about course and exam enrolment can be found here
Contact
Coordinator(s): Jan Willem Erisman, Suzanne Marselis
Other involved teachers: invited guest lectures by external speakers
Remarks
This course is an elective module for the MSc Programme on Governance of Sustainability, and also open to students from the MSc Industrial Ecology.
The course focusses on the Dutch nitrogen and sustainability crisis and will be taught in English. However, especially for the second assignment the available literature is mainly in Dutch. This might be a limitation for international students, even though translation options of most of the texts is possible.