School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Sustainable Natural Resource Management
  • Unit Code

    SCI3453
  • Year

    2018
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Pierre HORWITZ

Description

This unit examines the concepts of health, well-being and management as they apply to people and natural resources at the mesoscale: in catchments. The unit develops principles for natural resource management in the context of sustainability and applies those principles at the community, agency and governmental level. Specific emphasis for natural resources management is placed on the measurement of ecosystem health and the inter-relationships between social systems and ecosystems.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI3301

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply concepts of health, care and well-being, and sustainability to natural resource management.
  2. Describe the appropriateness of the mesoscale, or the catchment, as a unit of governance and as a unit of integrated knowledge for natural resource management.
  3. Describe the inter-relationships between ecosystems, social systems, economics and public health in the governance arrangements for natural resource management.
  4. Describe the spectrum of ways in which individuals in local and regional communities are consulted in, and participate in, natural resource management/catchment health groups and processes.
  5. Use systems thinking and holistic approaches to derive principles for natural resource management.

Unit Content

  1. Concepts of health, condition, state, care and well-being as they apply to ecosystems.
  2. Concepts of place in catchment health and natural resource management: sense of place, place attachment, place identity; quantitative and narrative approaches.
  3. Definitions of catchments in regional Australia: water drainage systems; regional political units/electorates; socio-economic systems; regional demographic characteristics; transport systems; climatic systems; bioregions.
  4. Definitions of communities; notions of community capacity, social capital, cross-cultural approaches and social resilience in natural resource management.
  5. Ecological integrity, ecological resilience, systems theory, adaptive capacity and management as they apply to social ecological systems.
  6. Models of integrated management and governance; integrated catchment management; local and regional governance.
  7. Models of integration: state of environment reporting; triple bottom line reporting and accounting; ecosystem health; sustainable communities; sustainability assessment.
  8. Models of participation in natural resource management in regional Australia (community activism, landcare groups, catchment councils).
  9. Natural resources and catchment management; the applicability of the mesoscale in governance, and the catchment unit.
  10. The spatial nature of human health; patterns of diseases in space and time; water borne diseases; vector borne diseases; environmental change, ecological condition, and human health; climate change and human health.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU Blackboard.

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures, practical workshops, participatory learning, group work, reflective journal, field visits.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
JournalLearning Journal30%
ProjectContribution to group assignment40%
ExaminationEnd of semester examination30%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

SCI3453|1|1

School: Science

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Sustainable Natural Resource Management
  • Unit Code

    SCI3453
  • Year

    2018
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Pierre HORWITZ

Description

This unit examines the concepts of health, well-being and management as they apply to people and natural resources at the mesoscale: in catchments. The unit develops principles for natural resource management in the context of sustainability and applies those principles at the community, agency and governmental level. Specific emphasis for natural resources management is placed on the measurement of ecosystem health and the inter-relationships between social systems and ecosystems.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI3301

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply concepts of health, care and well-being, and sustainability to natural resource management.
  2. Describe the appropriateness of the mesoscale, or the catchment, as a unit of governance and as a unit of integrated knowledge for natural resource management.
  3. Describe the inter-relationships between ecosystems, social systems, economics and public health in the governance arrangements for natural resource management.
  4. Describe the spectrum of ways in which individuals in local and regional communities are consulted in, and participate in, natural resource management/catchment health groups and processes.
  5. Use systems thinking and holistic approaches to derive principles for natural resource management.

Unit Content

  1. Concepts of health, condition, state, care and well-being as they apply to ecosystems.
  2. Concepts of place in catchment health and natural resource management: sense of place, place attachment, place identity; quantitative and narrative approaches.
  3. Definitions of catchments in regional Australia: water drainage systems; regional political units/electorates; socio-economic systems; regional demographic characteristics; transport systems; climatic systems; bioregions.
  4. Definitions of communities; notions of community capacity, social capital, cross-cultural approaches and social resilience in natural resource management.
  5. Ecological integrity, ecological resilience, systems theory, adaptive capacity and management as they apply to social ecological systems.
  6. Models of integrated management and governance; integrated catchment management; local and regional governance.
  7. Models of integration: state of environment reporting; triple bottom line reporting and accounting; ecosystem health; sustainable communities; sustainability assessment.
  8. Models of participation in natural resource management in regional Australia (community activism, landcare groups, catchment councils).
  9. Natural resources and catchment management; the applicability of the mesoscale in governance, and the catchment unit.
  10. The spatial nature of human health; patterns of diseases in space and time; water borne diseases; vector borne diseases; environmental change, ecological condition, and human health; climate change and human health.

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU Blackboard.

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit uses technology-enhanced learning with a mix of lectures, practical workshops, participatory learning, group work, reflective journal, field visits.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
JournalLearning Journal30%
ProjectContribution to group assignment40%
ExaminationEnd of semester examination30%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

SCI3453|1|2