Admission Requirements
Only open to students that are registered for the minor Sustainable Development.
Description
The course approaches the subject of sustainable development from four different angles, each treated in a separate module. The first module looks at the intrinsic value of the human environment, i.e. nature’s richness. What is ‘biodiversity’, what is our culturally determined attitude towards it and what policies are effective? The second module addresses the issue at a global scale, that of ‘environmental processes’, focusing on climate change, pollution, biochemical cycles, and tipping points. The third module is more directly geared towards action, focusing on economic and innovation aspects. How can citizens and governments apply the available knowledge to work towards a sustainable world? What part can be played by economic instruments, in addition to legislation? The fourth angle is that of the regional level, addressing the question why some civilisations prove sustainable while others perish. This module emphasises the use of natural resources, such as food and water. Throughout the course, we will look at general theories and the ‘classics’ of sustainable development.
Module 1. Biodiversity: meaning, views, policy, and practice
Societies do need nature for their services (the so-called ecosystem services), but nature has also a value of its own. In this module we first treat biodiversity, threats to biodiversity, and the use of biodiversity in providing ecosystem services. After that we will look at the philosophical points of view on biodiversity. The focus in this module is on how visions and opinions on biodiversity play a major role in the way we value biodiversity, and also in the formulation of nature and environmental conservation policies. After all, the key aspects of conservation biology are repair versus preventing damage to the ecosystems and thus biodiversity.
Module 2. Environmental Processes
This module is centered around the key challenges humanity is facing at the moment, including pollution, climate change, and the disruption of biochemical cycles. We start by re-investigating the concept of planetary boundaries, and link this to risk perception, risk assessment, and optimism bias. Based on these concepts, we will then focus on four critical planetary boundaries for which are exceeding thresholds: pollution, climate change, land use change, and biochemical cycles.
Module 3. Economy and Environment
This module introduces methods, theories, and case studies to examine how economic decisions affect environmental problems. The module deals with questions like: How do you take account of environmental impacts throughout a product supply chain? What is a sustainable consumption level and how can it be reached? How fast can new technologies diffuse in production systems and what are possible obstacles and restrictions? Key tools will be introduced to show how environmental outcomes of economic and technological change are modelled at different spatial and temporal scales. Together with insights from historical developments and new economic thinking, they provide some structure to answer complex questions about the future. Throughout, this module leaves plenty of room for discussion and offers different vantage points to understand the variety of stakes and opinions in our future development path.
Module 4. Building Sustainable Societies
In the weeks of this module, you will examine the wax and wane of civilisations that were forced to change due to lack of resources. Did they perish or did they achieve a new state of equilibrium? The module focuses on the factors of population growth and food supply. At the same time, it looks at the way ideas about sustainable development have grown in our present-day society and introduces you to some key concepts and methods used in this discipline. The module uses a cyclic mode of learning, and its approach is relatively ‘literature-based’, that is, it involves reading quite a few original texts.
Course Objectives
After completing this course you will be able to:
Describe current sustainability challenges, and explain how this is affected by the world’s complex system of cycles and processes;
Describe important sustainability-related concepts and processes, and use theory, factual knowledge, and a system’s perspective to explain the drivers of sustainability challenges, and the interaction between people, planet, and prosperity;
Apply the above knowledge to analyse complex sustainability problems, using various methodologies, and describe different categories of solutions;
Substantiate and defend statements regarding sustainability challenges and proposed solutions, and present scientific results to a broad audience, both verbally and in writing.
Timetable
The Global Environmental Change and Sustainability course is from 1 September – 7 November 2024. Exact timing of the course, and programme details will be announced via Brightspace. Dates might change.
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of Instruction
The course covers 15 ECTS, distributed over 10 weeks (420 hours), starting on 1 September 2025. It is a full-time programme requiring active participation. Compulsory contact hours are mainly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are scheduled for self-study (reading literature, preparing assignments, and tests) and occasional also for compulsory classes or fieldtrips (so always check the schedule).
Assessment method
The course will be graded based on the following components (including weights):
Written individual exam (40%)
There are two exams, each exam will test knowledge and ability to apply this, based on topics covered in the preceding modules. The first exam (20%) is related to Module 1: Biodiversity and Module 2: Environmental Processes.
The second exam (20%) is related to Module 3: Economy and Environment and Module 4: Building Sustainable Societies.Module-based assessments (60%)
Each module will be assessed through graded assignments, worth 15% of the total grade per module. The assessment methods will be different in each module (e.g. papers, presentations, report, debates) and are partially individual or group-work based.
As the course is highly interactive, attendance and active participation is key. Hence, we expect attendance to lectures (including guest lectures), tutorials, and excursions. In case of extenuating circumstances (e.g., sickness), the absence needs to be communicated via email to the teachers. Prolonged absences needs to be discussed and agreed on with the course coordination team as this will impact achieving learning goals and disrupt group work.
Regulations for passing the course:
To pass the course, firstly, all graded course elements (presentations, exams etc.) require a minimum grade of 5.0. In addition, the final average mark has to be at least 5.5, to pass and receive the credits for this course.
The written exams can be retaken once in the same academic year. Module-based assignments have to be handed in within the deadline communicated by the module teacher. Requests for extensions have to be well motivated and agreed on with the module teacher before the respective deadline has passed. Items submitted later than specified cannot be considered. More detailed information about the assignments can be found on Brightspace.
Reading list
All course information, module manuals, and required reading will be available on Brightspace.
Registration
Registration opens on May 14 (13:00 hrs) via EduXchange.
Contact
Should you have any questions regarding the registration or about the minor in general, please reach out to minor@cml.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
You will be enrolled in Brightspace. All the lecture notes, manuals of every single module, assignments, important announcements, the schedule, etc. can be found there. For some components MS Teams will be used as wel.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.