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

    Catchment Health
  • Unit Code

    SCI5105
  • Year

    2017
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Pierre HORWITZ

Description

This unit presents an integrated approach to the health of the catchment as a geographical, ecological, political and social unit. It is based on the principles of ecosystem health, the ecological footprint, integrated catchment management, and ecologically sustainable development. Accordingly, it deals with the management of natural resources in order to maximise benefits to the health of its occupants, the ecosystems biophysical components, and the well-being of communities.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI4132

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply concepts of health and sustainability to the catchment and its components.
  2. Evaluate the degree to which local and regional communities participate in, or are consulted in, governmental natural resource management processes.
  3. Prepare a catchment health report.
  4. Synthesize the ecological, social, and political characteristics of an area to appropriately define the catchment and its boundaries.
  5. Use integrative models that present the inter-relationships between the health of a catchments human populations and the condition of its natural resources.

Unit Content

  1. Concepts of health (including its metaphorical use), condition, state, care and well-being as they apply to individuals, populations, ecosystems.
  2. Definitions of catchments in regional Australia; natural resources and catchment management; the applicability of catchments as governance units.
  3. Ecological integrity, ecological resilience, systems theory, adaptive capacity and management as they apply to socio-ecological systems.
  4. Forms of participation in natural resource management in regional Australia (landcare, bushcare, catchment councils, recovery catchments etc.); community participation in catchment management and assessment of catchment health
  5. Metaphorical underpinnings for models of resource management.
  6. Models of integrated management and governance; integrated/total catchment management; catchment health; local and regional governance.
  7. Models of integration: ecosystem services and human well-being; state of environment reporting; triple bottom line reporting and accounting; ecosystem health; sustainable communities, sustainability.
  8. The spatial nature of human health; patterns of diseases in space and time; relationships between environmental quality and human health.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Case studies as assignments; on-line tutorials; on-line focus groups, bulletin boards and other discussions; local field excursions.

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.

ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
Case Study ^Catchment Group project40%
Essay ^Ecosystem Services analysis25%
Report ^Catchment Model35%

^ Mandatory to Pass


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.

SCI5105|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

    Catchment Health
  • Unit Code

    SCI5105
  • Year

    2017
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Pierre HORWITZ

Description

This unit presents an integrated approach to the health of the catchment as a geographical, ecological, political and social unit. It is based on the principles of ecosystem health, the ecological footprint, integrated catchment management, and ecologically sustainable development. Accordingly, it deals with the management of natural resources in order to maximise benefits to the health of its occupants, the ecosystems biophysical components, and the well-being of communities.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI4132

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply concepts of health and sustainability to the catchment and its components.
  2. Evaluate the degree to which local and regional communities participate in, or are consulted in, governmental natural resource management processes.
  3. Prepare a catchment health report.
  4. Synthesize the ecological, social, and political characteristics of an area to appropriately define the catchment and its boundaries.
  5. Use integrative models that present the inter-relationships between the health of a catchments human populations and the condition of its natural resources.

Unit Content

  1. Concepts of health (including its metaphorical use), condition, state, care and well-being as they apply to individuals, populations, ecosystems.
  2. Definitions of catchments in regional Australia; natural resources and catchment management; the applicability of catchments as governance units.
  3. Ecological integrity, ecological resilience, systems theory, adaptive capacity and management as they apply to socio-ecological systems.
  4. Forms of participation in natural resource management in regional Australia (landcare, bushcare, catchment councils, recovery catchments etc.); community participation in catchment management and assessment of catchment health
  5. Metaphorical underpinnings for models of resource management.
  6. Models of integrated management and governance; integrated/total catchment management; catchment health; local and regional governance.
  7. Models of integration: ecosystem services and human well-being; state of environment reporting; triple bottom line reporting and accounting; ecosystem health; sustainable communities, sustainability.
  8. The spatial nature of human health; patterns of diseases in space and time; relationships between environmental quality and human health.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Case studies as assignments; on-line tutorials; on-line focus groups, bulletin boards and other discussions; local field excursions.

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.

ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
Case Study ^Catchment Group project40%
Essay ^Ecosystem Services analysis25%
Report ^Catchment Model35%

^ Mandatory to Pass


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.

SCI5105|1|2