Course content

This is a special course designed for students participating in a international exchange program between NTNU and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO). The course consists of two sections, each worth 7.5 study points. CONSEC1 is the first part of the overarching experience for exchange students. CONSEC2 will take place at UWO.

Part 1 of CONSEC1: Local and global perspectives on environmental and resource management 2

Part 1 of CONSEC1 will be participation in an existing course at NTNU: Local and global perspectives on environmental and resource management (GEOG2023). Exchange program students will attend approximately the first half of this course with NTNU students enrolled in GEOG2023, providing an opportunity for intercultural exchange in an educational setting. GEOG2023 will be designed in such a way that exchange students will experience a complete course during the first half of the semester (i.e. equivalent to 7.5 SP).

Academic content for Part 1: Environmental and natural resource management is one of the most central and contentious management areas today, both nationally and internationally. In order to understand the complexities and conflicts within these debates, this course focuses on how people value and conceptualize the environment, nature, and natural resources, and the consequences of different approaches. To understand value the course provides an introduction to key theories and analytical concepts of value, which structure political and economic debates over environmental management.

Key questions in the course are:

1. Who are the actors in environmental and natural resource management, and what are the different ways these actors understand and relate to nature? How are these different perspectives considered in environmental decision-making and policies at local, regional, national and global scales?
2. What effects do different forms of governance and land tenure have on the environment, nature, and natural resources?
3. How is justice attended to (or not) in resource management in national and international contexts?

Norwegian and international and multi-national case studies are used to elucidate these issues. A field trip will provide empirical insight into current issues in Norwegian environmental management.

Part 2 of CONSEC1: Conservation, Sustainability, and Environmental Citizenship 1

This is the Norwegian component of the semester-long course at the core of the international exchange program. This approximately 10-week course will include two overnight field trips, a one day field trip, and four seminars. One overnight fieldtrip will coincide with the required field trip as part of GEOG2023. The second fieldtrip will be organized only for exchange students. As a counter-balance to GEOG2023, the seminars will focus on conservation and parks in Africa.

Academic content for part 2: Conservation through national parks and reserves is one of the most widely used nature protection strategies in the world, supported by governments, international bodies, scientists and the public. However the creation of parks has also led to displacement and disenfranchisement of indigenous and local communities and even threatened individual species and ecosystems; this is nowhere more evident than in Africa. This course will therefore focus on African nature-society engagement through study of ecosystems, history, and cultures. The role of national parks in sustainable development will also be explored.

Learning outcome

A student who has completed this course should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge:

• Will have, at minimum, an introductory understanding of key theories for national and international environmental and natural resource management. These include theories of scale, value, land tenure and environmental governance, justice, and situated knowledges.
• Be able to define and identify similarities and differences among the empirical realities and concepts of natural resources, nature, and the environment.
• Develop an understanding of the role of national parks and protected areas in public lands management and nature conservation, including how this has developed over time and manifests differently based on local, national, and international contexts.

Skills:

• Should be able to apply, in writing, the theories they have learned to understand and interpret case studies at different scales and in different contexts.
• Through group activities, students will develop the ability to communicate complex theories and environmental issues to a range of public and academic audiences.

General competence:

• Contually develop their abilities to independently analyze and reflect on existing approaches to national and international environmental and resource management.

Learning methods and activities

• Up to 14 hours of classroom instruction for part 1, which will be a combination of lectures and discussion seminars
• 1 full-day field course
• 2 overnight field trips
• Discussion and peer-review seminars for part 1
• Discussion and lecture seminars for part 2

Please note that compulsory activities and lectures may be scheduled earlier than the deadline for registering for the course.

Teaching will only be given if a sufficient number of students register for the course and if the Department has sufficient teaching resources. See www.ntnu.edu/studies/courses for the most up to date information on the courses not being offered.

Compulsory assignments

• Participation in field course and seminars
• Reflexive journal
• Presentation

Further on evaluation

The exam consists of a portfolio submission of two essays related to the key questions in part 1 of the course and the experiences of part 2.

Students will have opportunities to revise and re-submit their portfolio essays. All parts of the portfolio must be submitted and assessed as passed (E or better) in order to obtain a grade for the course. An overall letter grade will be given for the course based on an average of the final versions of all portfolio sections. It is not possible to use previously submitted materials when retaking the exam. It is only possible to repeat the exam in the semester in which the course in taught, and the oral part is only given in the semester in which the course is convened.

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

Completed GEOG1010, GEOG1011, GEOG1012, GEOG1013, GEOG1014 or equivalent.

Required previous knowledge

This is an admission restricted course. Admission requires that you have been selected to participate in the student exchange program Conservation, Sustainability and Environmental Citizenship (CONSEC). Admission to the course is done in consultation with the Department of Geography.

Credit reductions