| Code | Faculty | Department |
|---|---|---|
| 02250407 | Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences | Department: Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology |
| Credits | Duration | NQF level |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum duration of study: 2 years | Total credits: 180 | NQF level: 09 |
The Centre for Environmental Studies is a graduate school for multidisciplinary training and research focusing on the environment. Training aims to satisfy the need for environmental professionals for implementing current environmental legislation as well as industry-driven environmental management systems.
Coordinated by the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology.
The purpose of this focus area is to train environmental graduates considered generalists for managing the full spectrum of human-environment-economic interactions. On completion of the training, candidates should be conversant and be able to partake in, or render advice concerning, all aspects involved in managing social, economic and environmental processes in a sustainable manner. This includes social and environmental impact assessment, policy formulation, social development and planning, eco-system structure, composition and function, ecosystem services, ecosystem health, invasive species, species and community restoration, conservation education, local communities and conservation, economic inefficiency, misallocation, market failure, policy failure, the economics of renewable and non-renewable resources, cost-benefit analysis, valuation of environmental goods and services and environmental accounting.
There are two independent foci of the master’s option in Environmental Management:
The MSc degree is conferred on the grounds of a dissertation and such additional postgraduate coursework as may be prescribed.
Renewal of registration
As long as progress is satisfactory, renewal of the registration of a master’s student will be accepted for the second year of the study. Registration for a third and subsequent years will only take place when the Student Administration of the Faculty receives a written motivation that is supported by the relevant head of department and Postgraduate Studies Committee.
General
Candidates are required to familiarise themselves with the General Regulations regarding the maximum period of registration and the requirements on the submission of a draft article for publication.
Note: Additional modules may be required in order to reach the desired standard
Candidates must demonstrate proficiency in the English language up to the level required by either the TOEFL test (www.ets.org/toefl) or the IELTS language proficiency test (www.ielts.org).
Note:
For the focus on Sustainable Development, final admission is subject to the approval of the Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies.
For the focus on Environmental Economics, students without a formal background in economics will be considered. Admission is subject to the approval of the Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development and the Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies. Additional courses in economics or related topics may be prescribed for students, depending on their academic background.
The progress of all master's candidates is monitored biannually by the supervisor and the postgraduate coordinator. A candidate's study may be terminated if the progress is unsatisfactory or if the candidate is unable to finish his/her studies during the prescribed period.
Subject to exceptions approved by the Dean, on recommendation of the relevant head of department, and where applicable, a student may not enter for the master's examination in the same module more than twice.
The MSc degree is conferred with distinction to candidates who obtain a final average mark of at least 75% and a mark of at least 75% for the dissertation/mini-dissertation from each of the members of the examination panel. Where a member of the examination panel awards a mark of less than 75% for the dissertation/mini-dissertation, that member of the examination panel must offer, in writing, support for his/her decision, or indicate in writing that he/she supports the examination committee's decision to confer the degree with distinction.
Programme information:
Minimum credits: 180
Core credits: 150
Elective credits: 30
Contact:
Ms Marinda Cilliers
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4048
Email: [email protected]
Module content:
The foundation of the module is the interrelations between societal and environmental dynamics. It deals with issues of social structure, culture, politics, education, migration, production, urbanisation, demographics and social institutions and how these impact upon the environment. Also dealt with is how the consequences of impacts, such as environmental change, in turn affect societies. Analysis of complex interrelationships between society and the environment, social-environmental linkages and multiplier effects are dealt with.
Module content:
Strategic environmental planning: introduction, objectives and principles; levels; South African overview; guidelines: national and international; strategy and management; structure, strategy and agency; South African guidelines; diagnostic tools; RESP analysis; strategic resource planning; applications, implementation and control; development and policy implementation; South African environmental policy; evaluation frameworks; portfolio analysis; competitive forces; alliances; business benefits; intangibles, survival and catalytic contributions; South African legislation and regulations.
Module content:
Environmental philosophy and ethics, environmental ecology, environment, society and development, environmental economics, environmental management, critical resources management: water utilisation, air quality control, land-use planning: soil characteristics, biodiversity planning, critical resource management: determinism vs co-evolutionary environmental frameworks, research methodology and practice.
Module content:
Legislation for sustainable development within the framework of international agreements, the different acts affecting water quality and water use, the SEMAs within the NEMA framework, the NEMA EIA regulations, legislation pertaining to hazardous substances, interaction between mining development and NEMA, energy law, strategic environmental legislation, marine and coastal management.
Module content:
The student needs to conduct a research project under the supervision of an academic member of staff associated with the Centre for Environmental Studies. This project needs to be of a sufficient quality to be publishable in the open scientific literature. The research report is examined as a manuscript for a suitable journal.
Module content:
The foundation of the module is the interrelations between societal and environmental dynamics. It deals with issues of social structure, culture, politics, education, migration, production, urbanisation, demographics and social institutions and how these impact upon the environment. Also dealt with is how the consequences of impacts, such as environmental change, in turn affect societies. Analysis of complex interrelationships between society and the environment, social-environmental linkages and multiplier effects are dealt with.
Module content:
Strategic environmental planning: introduction, objectives and principles; levels; South African overview; guidelines: national and international; strategy and management; structure, strategy and agency; South African guidelines; diagnostic tools; RESP analysis; strategic resource planning; applications, implementation and control; development and policy implementation; South African environmental policy; evaluation frameworks; portfolio analysis; competitive forces; alliances; business benefits; intangibles, survival and catalytic contributions; South African legislation and regulations.
Module content:
The need and purpose of land reform in South Africa and its contribution towards sustainable social-environmental interaction. An overview of the global variety of land tenure systems, and tenure reform programmes in other countries. Overview of previous systems of land tenure in South Africa. Land reform policy in South Africa: restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform. Critical assessment of progress in terms of land reform objectives. Evaluation of the contribution of the South African land reform programme towards creating sustainable environments.
Module content:
In this module students will be introduced to the various methods of modelling and assessing social impacts. Specific emphasis will be placed upon modelling societal-economic-environmental interactions, formulating stochastic and dynamic models of population-development-environment interactions, conducting research to determine possible impacts of environmental changes on communities and performing social impact surveys. Students will be introduced to both quantitative as well as qualitative methods of conducting social impacts assessments.
Module content:
The ISO framework, environmental risks and opportunities for companies, global environmental concerns, environmental legislation, identification of environmental impacts, environmental certification and auditing, follow-up activities, the Forestry Stewardship Council framework, chain of custody requirements, production standards, FSC reporting.
(** additional costs involved for international UK certificate)
Module content:
Place and role of trees in multifunctional rural landscapes. Trees outside forests. Multipurpose trees. Trees and biodiversity. Trees and environmental services. Trees and sustainable development. Domesticated forests. Agroforestry (definition, classification, challenges and examples). Multiple use of forests and trees. Non-timber tree and forest products. Domestication of multipurpose trees. Forests and people. Trees and agricultural production systems (yield, interactions, synergy, competition, pests and diseases). Case-study examples from sub-Saharan Africa.
Module content:
Structure and function of natural forests, species composition and diversity, disturbance processes and regimes, recovery (succession) concepts and theory, biodiversity in forest ecosystems, energy and nutrient flux in natural forest ecosystems. Resource assessment and planning. Silvicultural systems and management of natural forests (and woodlands), natural regeneration and forest rehabilitation management for sustainability of natural forest ecosystems: multiple use for timber and non-timber forest products, forest rehabilitation (invader plants, mining, degraded forests).
Module content:
Environmental valuation and policy. This module will review the basic principles of microeconomic theory needed for understanding and analysis of environmental problems, introduce market and non-market techniques of valuation of natural resources and environmental services (hedonic pricing, contingent valuation, transport cost, willingness-to-pay, cost-based techniques, etc.), public goods and environmental externalities, property rights regimes and selection of appropriate environmental policy instruments for management of environmental externalities.
Module content:
This module involves the study of the causes and consequences of environmental change from multidisciplinary perspectives. A focus of this course is human environmental interactions. Past processes leading to environmental change will also be discussed. In a given period, the following will be investigated: principles of environmental change, causes and consequences of environmental change, Global warming and climate change: causes and impacts of climate change on natural resources; water, forests, biodiversity, land use and land cover change, environmental/Climate change and infectious disease, human dimensions of global change and Climate change political responses including the Kyoto protocol. Mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change and effects of Climate change on sustainable development.
Module content:
The foundation of the module is the interrelations between societal and environmental dynamics. It deals with issues of social structure, culture, politics, education, migration, production, urbanisation, demographics and social institutions and how these impact upon the environment. Also dealt with is how the consequences of impacts, such as environmental change, in turn affect societies. Analysis of complex interrelationships between society and the environment, social-environmental linkages and multiplier effects are dealt with.
Module content:
Strategic environmental planning: introduction, objectives and principles; levels; South African overview; guidelines: national and international; strategy and management; structure, strategy and agency; South African guidelines; diagnostic tools; RESP analysis; strategic resource planning; applications, implementation and control; development and policy implementation; South African environmental policy; evaluation frameworks; portfolio analysis; competitive forces; alliances; business benefits; intangibles, survival and catalytic contributions; South African legislation and regulations.
Module content:
Environmental philosophy and ethics, environmental ecology, environment, society and development, environmental economics, environmental management, critical resources management: water utilisation, air quality control, land-use planning: soil characteristics, biodiversity planning, critical resource management: determinism vs co-evolutionary environmental frameworks, research methodology and practice.
Module content:
Legislation for sustainable development within the framework of international agreements, the different acts affecting water quality and water use, the SEMAs within the NEMA framework, the NEMA EIA regulations, legislation pertaining to hazardous substances, interaction between mining development and NEMA, energy law, strategic environmental legislation, marine and coastal management.
Module content:
The student needs to conduct a research project under the supervision of an academic member of staff associated with the Centre for Environmental Studies. This project needs to be of a sufficient quality to be publishable in the open scientific literature. The research report is examined as a manuscript for a suitable journal.
Module content:
The foundation of the module is the interrelations between societal and environmental dynamics. It deals with issues of social structure, culture, politics, education, migration, production, urbanisation, demographics and social institutions and how these impact upon the environment. Also dealt with is how the consequences of impacts, such as environmental change, in turn affect societies. Analysis of complex interrelationships between society and the environment, social-environmental linkages and multiplier effects are dealt with.
Module content:
Strategic environmental planning: introduction, objectives and principles; levels; South African overview; guidelines: national and international; strategy and management; structure, strategy and agency; South African guidelines; diagnostic tools; RESP analysis; strategic resource planning; applications, implementation and control; development and policy implementation; South African environmental policy; evaluation frameworks; portfolio analysis; competitive forces; alliances; business benefits; intangibles, survival and catalytic contributions; South African legislation and regulations.
Module content:
The need and purpose of land reform in South Africa and its contribution towards sustainable social-environmental interaction. An overview of the global variety of land tenure systems, and tenure reform programmes in other countries. Overview of previous systems of land tenure in South Africa. Land reform policy in South Africa: restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform. Critical assessment of progress in terms of land reform objectives. Evaluation of the contribution of the South African land reform programme towards creating sustainable environments.
Module content:
In this module students will be introduced to the various methods of modelling and assessing social impacts. Specific emphasis will be placed upon modelling societal-economic-environmental interactions, formulating stochastic and dynamic models of population-development-environment interactions, conducting research to determine possible impacts of environmental changes on communities and performing social impact surveys. Students will be introduced to both quantitative as well as qualitative methods of conducting social impacts assessments.
Module content:
The ISO framework, environmental risks and opportunities for companies, global environmental concerns, environmental legislation, identification of environmental impacts, environmental certification and auditing, follow-up activities, the Forestry Stewardship Council framework, chain of custody requirements, production standards, FSC reporting.
(** additional costs involved for international UK certificate)
Module content:
Place and role of trees in multifunctional rural landscapes. Trees outside forests. Multipurpose trees. Trees and biodiversity. Trees and environmental services. Trees and sustainable development. Domesticated forests. Agroforestry (definition, classification, challenges and examples). Multiple use of forests and trees. Non-timber tree and forest products. Domestication of multipurpose trees. Forests and people. Trees and agricultural production systems (yield, interactions, synergy, competition, pests and diseases). Case-study examples from sub-Saharan Africa.
Module content:
Structure and function of natural forests, species composition and diversity, disturbance processes and regimes, recovery (succession) concepts and theory, biodiversity in forest ecosystems, energy and nutrient flux in natural forest ecosystems. Resource assessment and planning. Silvicultural systems and management of natural forests (and woodlands), natural regeneration and forest rehabilitation management for sustainability of natural forest ecosystems: multiple use for timber and non-timber forest products, forest rehabilitation (invader plants, mining, degraded forests).
Module content:
Environmental valuation and policy. This module will review the basic principles of microeconomic theory needed for understanding and analysis of environmental problems, introduce market and non-market techniques of valuation of natural resources and environmental services (hedonic pricing, contingent valuation, transport cost, willingness-to-pay, cost-based techniques, etc.), public goods and environmental externalities, property rights regimes and selection of appropriate environmental policy instruments for management of environmental externalities.
Module content:
This module involves the study of the causes and consequences of environmental change from multidisciplinary perspectives. A focus of this course is human environmental interactions. Past processes leading to environmental change will also be discussed. In a given period, the following will be investigated: principles of environmental change, causes and consequences of environmental change, Global warming and climate change: causes and impacts of climate change on natural resources; water, forests, biodiversity, land use and land cover change, environmental/Climate change and infectious disease, human dimensions of global change and Climate change political responses including the Kyoto protocol. Mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change and effects of Climate change on sustainable development.
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