“The specialisation in Environment and Sustainable Development focuses on the structures, processes and agents that shape the relationship between developing societies and their natural environments.”

Sustainable development is one of the greatest challenges facing the international community. Current dominant ideological paradigms and structures relegate the environment to a secondary position in political and economic processes. Achieving greater engagement in sustainable development is thus critical, not only to ensure a healthy balance between ecological systems and economic processes, but also to create equitable and just societies. The specialisation provides the training necessary to understand the salience of such a transformation, to locate it within specific local and regional contexts, to develop a critical political economic understanding of the obstacles, and to design and implement sustainable development policies. The two main foci of the course material are environmental issues concerning rural communities, and the problems arising from the extraction, use, management, and distribution of natural resources. The members of the teaching team have research expertise in forestry, water and extractive industries in both developing and developed nations.

The specialisation considers the challenge of sustainable development as a multi-faceted political, economic and social process that is best understood from different spatial scales through interdisciplinary inquiry. The overall approach is informed by the need to integrate human rights, gender equity, and socioeconomic justice with environmental concerns.

The specialisation is particularly relevant to young and mid-career professionals in governmental, non-governmental and international organisations looking to develop their analytical and policy-making skills regarding key issues in environment and development. It is also suitable for recent graduates who seek further education on sustainable development as a preparation for doctoral research.