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.

Your unit may be subject to government or third party COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Please consider this before enrolling in this unit, and speak with the unit coordinator if this raises any concerns.

  • Unit Title

    Sustainable Natural Resource Management
  • Unit Code

    SCI3453
  • Year

    2022
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    2
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Angus Neil MORRISON-SAUNDERS

Description

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.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

Winter Semester. Students participate in field study. For students who cannot participate in the field study, there is an online offering.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI3301

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Use systems thinking and participatory approaches to derive principles for natural resource management.
  2. Interpret the perspectives of multiple stakeholders in local, regional and remote communities to determine how the management of their natural resources will affect them.
  3. Make decisions on the management of natural resources based on a catchment as the unit of governance.
  4. Integrate ecological, social and economic concepts to ensure resources are managed sustainably.

Unit Content

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

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

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 School Progression Panel.

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

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

SCI3453|2|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.

Your unit may be subject to government or third party COVID-19 vaccination requirements. Please consider this before enrolling in this unit, and speak with the unit coordinator if this raises any concerns.

  • Unit Title

    Sustainable Natural Resource Management
  • Unit Code

    SCI3453
  • Year

    2022
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    2
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Angus Neil MORRISON-SAUNDERS

Description

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.

Non Standard Timetable Requirements

Winter Semester. Students participate in field study. For students who cannot participate in the field study, there is an online offering.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded SCI3301

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Use systems thinking and participatory approaches to derive principles for natural resource management.
  2. Interpret the perspectives of multiple stakeholders in local, regional and remote communities to determine how the management of their natural resources will affect them.
  3. Make decisions on the management of natural resources based on a catchment as the unit of governance.
  4. Integrate ecological, social and economic concepts to ensure resources are managed sustainably.

Unit Content

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

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

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 School Progression Panel.

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

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

SCI3453|2|2