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Green Planet

Module description

The Green Planet module will connect you with the land, the greenscapes that provide our home, our food, filter our water and draw down carbon from the atmosphere. The aim being to provide you with an informed, solutions-focussed understanding of the value held within our planets land-based ecosystems, that are literally a green economy. The module will be presented by an array of experts in the field; both from academia, policy, land-management and industry, linking research-based understanding of nature with practical application. The course will cover the basics from the definition of natural ecosystems, why biodiversity matters to the understanding of ecological baselines and biodiversity in the Anthropocene. But further, it will provide you with the opportunity to develop your understanding of the challenges for conservation and how these interact with zero carbon agendas, how we can value and quantify the natural capital held in ecosystems and the services they provide through considering sustainable land-management for food production. If you want to see the value of our natural land-based environment and hone your thinking towards working to provide sustainable land management practices, then this is the module for you.

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this module you will you learn through a series of taught lectures, connect with expert stakeholders via panel discussions, experience real land management challenges in the field and draw together your newfound expertise by writing a POST Note (a Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, policy driven research note). The aim of this module is to provide you with key understanding of biodiversity and conservation challenges and how these link to our ability to manage land, see landscapes and ecosystems as capital assets and these can come together effectively to set zero carbon agendas. The module is designed to be guided by academic research via a small set of core lectures that set the scene for your thinking. But the overarching ethos of the course is ‘collaboration’ whereby your interaction with stakeholders and your peers will drive solutions-facing agendas. Green Planet’s aim is to help you see the challenge from both a research and operational perspective, so that you can join the dots. This course provides you with the opportunity to use your voice to ask the real movers and shakers and custodians of the land difficult questions in a set of expert stakeholder panel sessions. You will use your ideas to challenge the academic and stakeholder point of view. So much research has come from the academic ‘ivory tower’ over the last decades, but we want you, as informed agents of change, to be able to provide real world solutions in your journey onwards to save our green planet.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe the key scientific principles in regard to biodiversity and conservation
• 2. Identify the challenges for conservation and net zero agendas in the UK
• 3. Critically evaluate land management solutions from a holistic perspective

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Synthesise and critically evaluate theories, evidence, and challenges from academic research
• 5. Appreciation of translating scientific research into re-world applications
• 6. Identify gaps in knowledge and any issues in transferring knowledge to land management issues

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Ability to interact and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders
• 8. Digest, interpret, and explain complex ideas individually and as part of team
• 9. Undertake independent, self-directed study and research

Syllabus plan

The course comprises the following:

4 x 2 hour Lectures - that provide core theories and set the scene for participating in debates.

4 x 2 hour Panel Discussions - here you will have the opportunity to hear what experts both from academia, research and land stakeholders have to say about key issues in biodiversity, the environment and managing our landscapes. These sessions will be hosted by a chair who will encourage debate amongst the panellists and yourselves. You will form groups, within which you will collectively come up with questions to put to the panel for each session so that you can engage and influence stakeholders.

1 x 3hr Interactive Poster Session that provides both formative and summative assessment ahead of your POST note assessed work piece. In groups you will undertake and put together a scientific poster that looks at a pre-selected set of challenges. These will be presented; and you will receive both peer and formal feedback that is designed to feed into the development of your assessed course work POST Note e.g. https://post.parliament.uk/type/postnote/.

1 x 3hr Field Trip within the region looking at key issues in land management. You will see first-hand how different decisions lead to different outcomes and what challenges these generate. You will meet local landowners, experts and custodians of land.

1 x policy driven POST Note see https://post.parliament.uk/type/postnote/.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to sit a further examination or submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Key words search

Land management, Sustainability, Change Agents, biodiversity, ecosystems, net zero, wildfire