ENVI1110 - Environment and Society

1. ENVI1110 - Environment and Society • Monday 10 -11 (Envt F) & Friday 2 - 3 (Chem LT A) • Contemporary debates around human-environment interactions • Dr Andy Dougill (adougill@env.leeds.ac.uk) • Complete green form with your views on environmental issues & science / society role • Discuss with your neighbour why you are here !!

2. Why I’m here !? • Sense of connection with nature & environmental awareness generated through media / education in school years (as environmentalism became mainstream in 1980s) • Because I worked hard in first degree … • & that has led to Environmental Research career assessing – • Land Degradation in Southern Africa • Community Forestry schemes in Nepal • Climate Change Adaptability of African mixed farming systems • Upland Management in the UK • & because I believe that educating the next generation on environmental issues & possible integrated solutions offers today’s poor, & all future generations, the best chance of sustainability / survival

7. Module Learning Outcomes • Knowledge of theories & policy debates on human-environment interactions • Awareness of need for, & barriers to, interdisciplinary study of env. problems • Application of key theories & concepts to social, cultural & environmental case studies • Ability to synthesise views in a written form

8. Key Module Issues • Human - Environmental Resource relations • Social, cultural and religious env perspectives • Environmentalism and environmental thought • Scientific controversies and misuse of science • Global and National policy frameworks • Sustainable development debates through African, Asian, Arctic & UK case studies

9. Learning Methods & Assessment • 17 lectures and coursework essay • Reading linked to lectures to ensure link to contemporary sustainability debates & your learning! • Assessment - 2 hour exam (75%) (Section A – answer 2 from 6 essay Q’s; Section B – 25 MCQ’s); 1,000 word essay by November 7th. • Key to good marks (see marking guidelines) - • Understanding of issues and concepts – basic knowledge tested by MCQ’s • Application to case studies • Reading beyond the lectures (deeper learning tested in essays)

10. Research Case Studies • University ethos is one of research-led teaching! • Environment staff here are split into 2 research institutes – Institute of Atmospheric Sciences (IAS) & Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) • This module showcases SRI research (Atmosphere of Planet Earth does same for IAS) with input from 6 staff. Key research includes – • Nepali Community Forestry and Biodiversity • Southern African Land Degradation Research • Borneo Conservation and Development Research • China’s Water Resource Management Issues • Canadian / US Research on First Nation Communities and Arctic ecosystems • UK Sustainable Development Issues (public, institutions & communities)

11. Learning Resources • Lecture outlines only, reading materials, web links and past exam questions all available in Nathan Bodington Room @ - • http://vle.leeds.ac.uk/site/nbodington/environ/level1/envi1110/ • Individual lecture reading lists • Reading different perspectives beyond lectures essential

12. Contemporary Debate Examples • January 2000 – George W Bush becomes US President & reverses environmental regulations past by Democrats • September 2000 – UN agrees Millennium Development Goals • World Summit on Sustainable Development - Johannesburg Sept 2002 • Drought and famine in Southern Africa – Malawi to South Africa harvests fail – April 2003 • GM nation debate in UK – June 2003 • Climate Change debates intensify as extreme weather events rage – e.g. wet UK summers, severe US hurricanes • Continued failings to reach development agreements on trade –2005 UN Conference failed to formally agree on targets within Millennium Development Goals • 2006 - Battle for ‘Green Ground’ in UK politics

13. Contemporary Debate Examples • Keep up-to-date via Newspapers or Web – Eco-Portal News Room available via NB Room –

14. Interdisciplinarity Life Sciences Earth Sciences Social Sciences Box = Sustainability Science – hard to achieve due to traditional subject boundaries

15. Sustainability Science – Reading Exercise 1 See Review article by Kates et al. (2002) provided as Core Reading Material from today’s lecture – “Sustainability science is emerging that seeks to understand the fundamental character of the interactions between nature and society. Such an understanding must encompass the interaction of global processes with the ecological and social characteristics of particular places and societies” See also - http://sustsci.aaas.org/ MUST be more than multi-disciplinarity!! Must be PARTICIPATORY and INTEGRATED

16. Sustainability Science - Kates et al., 2001 • Few disagree with sustainability as an ideal, but uncertainty on practical criteria, i.e. can we measure sustainability ? • Can social structures / capital be improved to guide nature & society interactions toward more sustainable trajectories? • Can systems for monitoring environmental & social conditions be integrated for sustainability? • How can research and decision support be better integrated into systems for adaptive management & societal learning ?

17. Sustainability Research Strategies • “Sustainability science differs to a considerable degree in structure, methods & content from science as we know it” (Kates et al., 2001, p.641). It must - • Span range of diverse scales (e.g. globalisation & local farming practices) • Account for temporal inertia & urgency of problems • Deal with functional complexities of societal root causes of environmental problems • Recognise the wide range of outlooks on the use of ‘knowledge’ within both science and society • Need to ‘Rethink Science’

18. Institutions and Infrastructure • Need for sustainability science driven from public in both North and South, but needs improved research and institutional structures • Need to bridge digital divide & use internet to build interdisciplinary, inter-regional research, including capacity building in the South

19. What role for Environmentalists? • Have we reached limits of where env sciences can go? • Public awareness achieved, but actions still needed by all to challenge worrying trends • Environmentalism now driven more by local societies (need for identities in globalised world) than by science • Needs to be more closely tied to Social Democracy groups to push agenda’s forward towards social & political change • Need to put ‘People, power & politics before conservation and CO2’

20. Conceptual Basis • Society - the social organisation and associated institutions that shape human behaviour • Culture, religion, education and policies all control • Global citizenship - a community that is both knowledgeable and has the tools to alter societies and economies towards greater sustainability • Sustainable development - hugely debated what this is and how to achieve it (below defn too broad) • ‘Dvpt that meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (UNEP, 1987) • See Kates et al. (2005) – What is sustainable development? Review available in NB Reading Room

21. Sustainability Science – Recent Thoughts • Sustainable Development has 3 forms of practice currently focusing public & policy agenda’s:- • Sustainable Livelihoods – local-scale & poverty eradication focused • Global Solidarity movement – support of poor in dvpg world via “anti-globalisation” standpoint • Corporate Responsibility movement – campaigns by NGO’s to change corporate behaviour • Whilst many see SD as a “greenwash” it remains an open dynamic & evolving idea that can be adapted to a range of different situations & contexts

22. Sustainable Development Principles • Sustainability implies different things to different stakeholders • Common guiding principles (O’Riordan, 2000) - • Protection of human life-support systems • Utilisation of resources to the point of precautionary replenishment • Right of future generations to resources that are of equal worth to those used today (i.e. to cost living according to natural burdens & social disruption – more in Env and Economy module on this!)

23. Environmental Stakeholders • Key stakeholder groups include - • Individual citizens - developed world developing world • Communities Community organisations Scientific community • Business • States / Government • UN role is to try and broker agreements between such diverse group - will this ever be possible !? • Can Summits serve catalytic role in changing society?

24. WSSD - Key Messages • Stressed the 3 inseparable pillars of Sust Dvpt - • Economic well-being • Social equity (widely contested) • Environmental protection • “Protection of the environment and poverty reduction are inextricably linked” => • Greater social and economic focus than at Rio, 1992 • “Need to move beyond the political rhetoric, brackets and commas to real action via multilateralism and effective global governance” – Thabo Mbeki, 2002 • However, has any progress been made to this extent in last 4 years?

25. Reading Exercise 2 - Analysis of Contemporary Policy Debates • Handout provided with summary of UN Commitments in Millennium Development Goals and Johannesburg Declaration. • An alternative view provided entitled “The Earth Charter” that leading environmentalists attempted (endorsed by 14,000 organisations representing millions of people), but failed to get nations to agree to at Johannesburg Conference • See - http://www.earthcharter.org/ • Compare the two documents & outline differences for next Monday (No lecture on Friday!!)

26. Key Readings • Reading Exercises 1 (Kates et al., 2002) and 2 (UN, 2002) available at front of lecture theatre. • In addition, it would be useful for you to refer to - • Kates, R.W., Parris, T.M. & Leiserowitz, A.A. (2005). What is Sustainable Development? Goals, Indicators, Values and Practice? Environment 47 (3), 9-21. (In NB Room) • O’Riordan, T. (2000). Environmental Science on the move. Chapter 1 of Environmental Science for Environmental Management. pp. 1-28. (Core module text book – Chapter 1) • http://www.earthcharter.org/