Course content

The course addresses environmental impacts and their assessment. At the beginning a overview of the main environmental problems for ecosystems is given. The course shall then familiarize the students with different tools for quantifying these environmental impacts with a main focus on impact pathways damaging biodiversity. The focus is on the development and application of novel and existing life cycle impact assessment models relevant for biodiversity. The course will also introduce the student to additional methods such as footprinting, risk assessment, the Living Planet Index, Red List Index and simple multimedia modeling.

Learning outcome

The student will gain knowledge and understanding of what biodiversity is and how to estimate species richness, the dominant problems for biodiversity and ecosystems, the definition of ecosystem services, assumptions and modeling steps of different impact assessment methodologies and of a variety of LCIA impact categories (such as land use, water use and plastic impacts). The students will gain knowledge how to develop a Species Sensitivity distribution (SSD), Species Area Relationship (SAR) and Species Discharge Relationship (SDR).

At the end of the term, students should have gained a thorough overview of the major environmental stressors that are affecting biodiversity, be familiar with the principles for the development of life cycle impact assessment methodologies for ecosystems with all their strengths and weaknesses, have the ability to set up and solve multimedia mass balance models (steady-state), have the ability to critically interpret outcomes of LCAs, as well as perform simple LCA assessments. In addition, students have gained knowledge about what assumptions and data choices are happening during model development and their implication for the final impact model, know about the background and execution of other assessment approaches (such as risk assessment), are able to judge the limits of different tools such as LCA, risk assessment and footprinting and are able to judge the application possibilities of the above-mentioned tools. The main focus will be on impacts on ecosystems and species richness.

Learning methods and activities

The course consists of lectures and discussions, as well as exercises. The course includes compulsory reading (mainly from the scientific literature). Lectures and exercises will be in English. The exam will be in English. Students are free to choose Norwegian or English for the written assessment.

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

University-level mathematics, Life cycle assessment (LCA), e.g. through TEP4223.

Course materials

Course material, consisting of reports and scientific literature will be posted on Blackboard.