Environmental Studies NOW 2012

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES – NOW!

Amulya Ratna TuladharProfessor of Environmental Sciences

Environmental Studies – Now! Environmental studies is long overdue in Nepal

Attempts to offer environmental studies

Deficiencies of such programs

‘Ideal’ program in environmental studies ?

Environmental Studies – Now!Environmental programs classifiable

into: a) general environmental science

programs; b) environmental technology programs;

and c) interdisciplinary environmental

programs

Environmental Studies – Now!LACKING : A comprehensive environmental studies

program

In a coherent package all relevant disciplines

for understanding and solving environmental problems in Nepal and in the world.

Environmental Studies – Now!

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

Existing academic programs in environment


An ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM will be proposed

DELIVERY of such environmental studies program


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS

Masters and Bachelors program in Environmental Science offered by Tribhuvan University and Kathmandu University


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS Theory, tools and content of a broad

range of environmental problems Content and approach are science

based Freshwater ecology to mountain

ecology, from geology to climate change


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS No social science tools like economic

or ethnographic analysis Theoretical coverage is necessarily

thin and superficial Rigor or Content not better than

Grade IX to Grade XII S.L.C, CBSE, and “A” level environment


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS Falling behind in content, due to Internet Slow-paced institutional decision-making Skill-oriented tools dangerously behind

market needs Examples can be given of GIS, Statistical

Research Techniques, Social Science Research Skills, EIA, Thesis/Report/Technical Writing, Team and Individual Presentation with PowerPoint, Policy Analysis Skills


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMS No governmental career track to get

into like a Ministry of Environment environmental science cadre like forestry, agriculture and medical cadre.

Career opportunities diffuse, mostly in NGO, INGO, entrepreunial sector in non-environmental sectors


ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS,

Associated with sectoral ministries related to environment: Forestry, agriculture, water resources, etcMy experience in forestry education



Human resources to solve technical environmental problems important to the country

Foresters conserve the productivity of forests,

Agriculturists are expected to boost food Water resource engineers harness water for

irrigation and power generation.


ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS, Commonality of all environmental

technology programs is the skill-oriented, depth training

Limited slew of theoretical menu so unlike general environmental science programs

Lack the theoretical breadth and depth



Programs high on national agenda Historically drawn donor support for

infrastructure building, human resource capacity

Million dollars worth of grant and loans from World Bank to USAID for Institute Of Forestry



To produce community forestry oriented ‘officer’ and ‘ranger’ level manpower for the 20 year Forestry Sector Master Plan of 1989

Current turnaround from deforestation to forest increase in the midhills



Systemic problems: the theoretical depth is limited

Actual job of forestry is 10% science and technology and 90% social, politics, law and administration.

Exposure to social science, economics, political science, development theory, policy and law or environmental ethics is either nil or token



Forest graduates getting into a government forestry career has dwindled from 100% before the 1980s to less then 20% in 2011

Foresters muddle along Rarely capable of holding on their own

professionally



These programs do not prepare student for: Environmental problems such as

sustainable development, green economy, climate change, gender mainstreaming, or even higher order ecological and environmental modeling increasing on demand in Nepal and abroad


INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS Academic homes different from the sciences Examples are Malpi International

College :Environmental Ethics. The School of Environmental Management and

Sustainable Development (Schemes) : Masters in Environmental Management

School of Education and School of Arts of Kathmandu University: Masters programs in Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, Development Studies and Human and Natural Resources Studies


INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS

Subjects such as Global Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Population and Development, Forestry and Wildlife Management with Conservation of Protected Areas, Conflict and Gender Studies



Less than a decade old Have donor support Agile enough to introduce new subjects

quickly as market demands



Do not have coherent vision or cadre of teachers Dependent on the efficiency of the leader (dean

or program coordinator Programs are volatile and fragile Not recognized as minimum professional

degrees for government sectoral ministries Graduates are destined for nongovernmental

environmental job market


INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS Face stiff competition from excess environmental

science and technology graduates as well more highly trained manpower with training from abroad or from more experienced human resources.

Most graduate do find some jobs since the environmental market is still booming and can tolerate weak candidates

As demands exceeds supply



Interdisciplinary programs still do not equip the students for the whole range of concepts and skills necessary for the market

Examples include training in political ecology, discourse analysis, climate change vulnerability and environmental modeling


AN “IDEAL” ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM FOR NEPAL

Offer access to all the necessary disciplines relevant to solving the environmental problems in Nepal now and in the foreseeable future



Should not be a science only or technology only or social science only program that has been tried out in various institutions in Nepal

Housed only in a central campus with access to faculty in at least three major categories: the sciences, the technologies, and the social sciences and humanities.



An ideal environmental studies program should have a general exposure Bachelor program of 4 years and specialist graduate program of 2 years for Masters and a 3 year for Ph.D.



The Bachelor Program should offer compulsory courses with 1/3 weightage in sciences, technology and humanities with the option to major in particular stream in the 4th year.

The Bachelor program should introduce students to all concepts, terms, tools, issues necessary for understanding and solving environmental problems and much of this is downloadable from internet and standard textbooks

The aim is to offer the broad domain of choices in environmental career not to train specialist



Currently, nearly all the graduate (Masters) programs in Nepal are at this level:

Internet downloadable concepts, tools, and definitions without any preparations for analysis/synthesis, critical thinking, and presentation to solve real world environmental problems that are NOT downloadable or memorisable from standard textbooks.



The Master’s program should be designed to produce specialist (Master) who can solve complex environmental problems that require critical analysis and synthesis of theories, concepts, tools and methodologies across sciences, technologies and social sciences and humanities.


AN “IDEAL” ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM FOR NEPAL First year of synthetic course such as gender issues in

environment, environmental history of landuse landcover changes, sustainable development and vulnerability analysis, carbon sequestration modeling, GIS and remote sensing in environment etc

No standard textbook answers or copy and paste internet resources or model answers to model questions



Seminar mode of teaching in which students do their own research in libraries, field, internet, discuss and participate in both vertical and lateral learning, make presentations, prepare proposals, conduct research and formulate conclusions that can be disseminated in international refereed journals.

The second year should have at least one semester of internship and one semester of thesis study with the option for delving into depth with selected directed readings on specific topics with the faculty


DELIVERY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM Range of human resources/teachers in a full-

fledged mega campus or central university campus

TU administration is too big and unwieldy to deliver fast changing, quality programs needed for environmental studies program as the decision making system is too slow.

The Environmental Science of TU is undergoing syllabus review after 10 years now


DELIVERY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM Contrast this with KU management Professor are given the trust and

liberty to upgrade the course each semester and

Have total control over grading. Even the program course structure is

open to modification every 2-3 years.


DELIVERY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM Second, the environmental studies needs access to

quality teachers and students and this self-feeding Quality teachers, mostly from professional field with

recent experience and more relevant trainings are to be hired with attractive pay package and benefits as well as creative freedom

Recruiting top quality students who are willing to pay high fees, face stiff selections

Promise of great training and great job prospects


DELIVERY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM

Many TU programs are struggling to fill in seats Accept whoever applies and Have poor quality teachers because Cannot offer good pay nor academic freedom.

Environmental Studies – Now!ANNEXES: Environmental Studies program from Kentucky University IOF Master’s program in NRM & Rural Development NEC Master’s program in NRM and IWRM, Pokhara University Schemes Masters in Environmental Management, Pokhara U School of Arts, KU, Masters Program in HNRS & Dev Studies School of Education, KU, Masters Program in EESD. School of Science, KU, Masters Program in Environment

Science Institute of Science, TU, Masters Program in Environment

Science

Environmental Studies NOW 2012

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