Public policy for climate and environmental regulation_2020-21

Description du contenu de l'enseignement Objectives: Sustainable development involves three aspects: economic development, social development, and environmental protection. The last item is widely discussed in the CLUES Master, by dealing with the interactions between human activities and environment through Earth sciences. However, in order to solve the current ecological challenges, it is necessary to build up biotechnical solutions economically and socially relevant (and so to be considered by policy makers…). This course aims to provide knowledge on these non-technical subjects for which economical, social and political challenges are particularly developed. In addition, since terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., forests, crops, but also urban ecosystems) are both sinks and sources of greenhouse gases (GHG), they can held mitigation strategies for climate regulation, but have to adapt themselves to climate change. More precisely, the course aims to: (i) Provide fundamental knowledge on biophysical processes involved in atmosphere-biosphere exchanges, and on the impacts of climate on ecosystem management, (ii) Show how these processes and their management can be included in economical approaches, and in the evaluation of mitigation strategies of climate change (iii) Show some stakeholder strategies in regards to these challenges and politics (biofuel, adaptation of forest and agricultural practices), and (iv) Show the role of the scientific community in public policies. Curriculum: The course will be divided in four major parts: (i) Introduction to economy of the environment and its application to agricultural activities, in a perspective of GHG emissions (at the scale of the farm), (ii) Evaluation of public policies for reduction of GHG emissions at the continental/world scale, considering several activity sectors (including agriculture and forest) and land use change, (iii) Adaptation of productive ecosystem management (agriculture/forest) to climate change, and links with public policies for climate change mitigation, and (iv) Introduction to the specificities of urban ecosystems in terms of climate and pollution, and strategies for their regulation
Année: 20/21