Public strategies for sustainable development

Teacher(s)

Auge Anais Camille (compensates Rihoux Benoît); Pardoen Thomas; Rihoux Benoît; Swaen Valérie (coordinator);

Language

French

Main themes

The main theme relative to sustainable developement public strategies will be treated on legal, socio-political and scientific aspects. The approach will also be done in traverse way to the different decisions' steps - international - federal - local - and council, by the study of cases and different organizations like : Local (ex.: Union of cities and municipalities), regional (ex.: CWEDD), federal (ex. : CIDD, CFDD), common (ex.: EU, European Council) and world institutions (ex.: PNUD, PNUE) entrusted to elaborate implementation strategies of sustainable development politics (development of indicators of sustainable development (iSD), elaboration of plans (PEDD, PFDD); great world conferences (RIO and the Agenda 21, KYOTO and Conferences about the reduction of greenhouse effect gases …); interactions between scientists and the political deciders (IPCC …)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	This DES in Environmental Sciences and Management has a professional finality. Its objective is to form people with a university degree to a multidisciplinary dialogue as well as to act and to decide in the field of the environment. Next to scientific theoretical acquisitions, an "environmental" specialist has to have a good knowledge of regional, federal and international strategies in what matters the environmental protection and sustainable development, as well as the institutions charged to facilitate their implementation. Indeed, as part of their future professional activities, the "environmental" specialists will have to act within these strategies' framework. This course aims to allow the students to acquire this knowledge of strategies and institutions. Such a course is also susceptible to interest other programs (political sciences, rights ) and should usefully appear as an option in programs of the faculties ESPO, DRT, AGRO, FSA and SC.

Content

The course (taught in French) consists of two parts. The first part provides an introduction to the topic of public strategies for sustainable development. It is taught by the co-instructors and covers technological, economic, and political science aspects.
The second part focuses on a specific topic (which varies from one academic year to the next). It features presentations by guest speakers selected for their expertise in the chosen topic (examples of previously selected topics include food, biodiversity, climate change, GMOs, energy, water, etc.).

Teaching methods

Part I Introduction: Presentations by the course instructors.
1. Sustainable Development Strategies: Economic Analysis.
2. Sustainable Development Strategies: Political Science Analysis.
3. Sustainable Development Strategies: Technological Analysis.
Part II Discussion with guest speakers.
Between 3 and 6 lectures will be offered per year.
This course is taught in person. Students are encouraged to regularly check their class schedule on ADE as well as the information available on Moodle.

Evaluation methods

Assessment consists of participation in all lectures held as part of the course and the completion of a written assignment of approximately 10 pages (excluding appendices).
You will be asked to formulate a research question on the year’s theme and answer it using:

• Scientific literature published in the field
• Lectures held as part of the course (with explicit references to the lectures and their content)
• Two interviews with “experts” on the chosen topic. A summary of the interviews must be included in the appendices of the paper.

The paper is due on the first day of the exam session.
During the exam session, a question-and-answer session on your paper (max. 20 minutes) will be held in the presence of at least two of the course co-instructors.
The format of the assessment is the same in the second session.
Use of Generative AI in Academic Work
The use of generative artificial intelligence tools (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) is permitted in written assignments, provided that the following principles are followed:

• Source of Inspiration and Structure: AI may be used to help organize ideas, rephrase sentences, or suggest lines of thought. However, the final paper must reflect the student’s personal and critical contribution.
• Reading of Sources: Any reference cited in the paper must have been actually read by the student (at least the relevant sections). It is not sufficient for an AI to have suggested them.
• Original Writing: The text must be written primarily by the student, particularly the analytical and critical sections (discussion, interpretation, and argumentation).
• Transparency: Any use of AI must be clearly stated in the paper. To this end, each student is asked to include a short explanatory paragraph at the end of their paper, specifying:
  • whether they used AI,
  • for what tasks (e.g., rephrasing, proofreading, reference searching, content generation, etc.),
  • and to what extent this influenced the final paper.

Other information

This course is taught in French.  Please consult the French version of the course description.

Online resources

MOODLEUCL : cours LENVI2010.

Teaching materials

• Support de cours sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

> ENVI