Elective Courses Offering to AUI Students
(All Schools)
Summer 2006

 

 

 

 

Instructor: Prof. Bachir Raissouni, Executive Director of the CEIRD

 

 

Eco4301 Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (3 SCH)

Open only to junior/ senior BSGE, BBA, BACS, BAINS, BSHRD or permission from the instructor

 

This course will survey a variety of topics with special emphasis on current local problems including pollution, biodiversity, energy use, and recycling, human population dynamics. This course will give the skills necessary to ask intelligent questions about and perhaps obtain answers to some of the environmental problems by examining scientific principles and the application of those principles to environmental issues.

The course will combine lectures that discuss the major environmental issues and how they can be tackled taking in consideration the socio-economical context, guest speakers presentations on specific topics and field work to assess regional cases by a group of students which lead to a paper to be presented in public.

 

 

Eco 4302 Environmental Problem Analysis (3 SCH)

Pre-requisites: ECO 4301 or permission from the instructor

 

The course will examine key environmental national and international issues through interactive lectures and guest speakers' presentations.  Using a multidisciplinary and comparative approach, this course explores the social, political, and scientific issues behind sustainable development.  Some environmental case studies including technical, social, economical and legal aspects will be discussed.

Students, working in small sub-groups, will undertake multidisciplinary studies of specific regional environmental issue in Middle Atlas region.

The purposes of this coordinating course are:

1)  Give students opportunity to see how the disciplinary knowledge acquired in their various courses and major programs can be integrated in a synthetic manner

2)     Provide a forum for an in-depth evaluation of a significant environmental problem,

3)     Give students the experience of working as a project team toward the solution of a real problem.

 
 

horizontal rule

 

Eco 4301 (3SCH): Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development,

Summer 2006

 

Course title: Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development,

Eco 4301 (3SCH)

  2006 Summer Session T-TH- W 14:00-15:50 Room 3 Build 011

Instructor: Prof. Bachir Raissouni, Executive Director of the CEIRD

Ext: 23 30 GSM: 061 35 47 10

Course Description

 

Eco4301 Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development

Open only to junior/ senior BSGE, BBA, BACS, BAINS, BSHRD / special permission from the instructor

                        

This course will survey a variety of topics with special emphasis on current local problems including pollution, biodiversity, energy use, and recycling, human population dynamics. This course will give the skills necessary to ask intelligent questions about and perhaps obtain answers to some of the environmental problems by examining scientific principles and the application of those principles to environmental issues.

The course will combine lectures that discuss the major environmental issues and how they can be tackled taking in consideration the socio-economical context, guest speakers presentations on specific topics and field work to assess regional cases by a group of students which lead to a paper to be presented in public.

 

Course outline

 

Part I: Human and Sustainability: an Overview

 
Week (1)

June 7 –  11

1- Environmental Problems, Their Causes and Sustainability

2-   Environmental Economics, Politics, and Worldviews/ International conventions CBD, UNFCCC, RAMSAR, UNCCD

Part II: Scientific Principles and Concepts

 

Week (2)

June 12– 18

3- Science, Matter and Energy

4-     Ecosystems: What are they and how do they Work?

5- Evolution and Biodiversity / Climate and Biodiversity

Part III: Human Population Resources and Sustainability

 

Week (3)

June 19 – 25

6- Applying Population Ecology: The Human Population

7- Air Pollution

8-Climate Change and Ozone Loss 

Field trip / Observation Report (June 21, 2006 forest walk)

Week (4)

June 26-July 2

9- Solid and Hazardous Waste

10-Water and Water Pollution

Midterm evaluation

 

Part IV: Sustaining Biodiversity

 

Week (5)

July 3 - 9

11-Food, Soil, and Pest Management

12-Sustaining Terrestrial Ecosystems: Forest, Rangelands, Parks and Wilderness

 Second field trip (July 5, 2006 Ifrane/Ain Louh/Afenourir)

Part V: Energy Resources

 

Week (6)

July 10-16
bullet Guest speakers(TBA): 
  1. M.Mrini, : water management issues
  2. A.Goacher: Environmental policy making
bullet Experimental field work at the AUI CEIRD

Week (7)

 

13- Energy and Renewables

14- General review of the course/paper presentation

Final evaluation/Exam  July 20

 

Evaluation:

30%     Field Observations / Mid-term Evaluation

30%     Paper / Oral Presentation

30%     Final Evaluation

10%     Participation

 

 Suggested Topics for the Term Paper

1-     Environmental laws in Morocco and public participation

2-     Renewable energies  and the challenges for next decades

3-     Environmental awareness and education in Morocco: how, where and who?

 

Deadlines

June 18th: topic and outline submission

July 4th: first draft submission

July 18th: final paper submission

July 19th: oral presentation

 

Documentation and Textbook

1-     Chapters from "Living in the Environmental , Environmental Science, Sustaining the Earth and Essential of Ecology" G. Tyler Miller, ISBN 0-534-99735-X

2-     IUCN reports, PARKS, ISSN. 0960 233X

3-     National reports on biodiversity strategy / Middle Atlas natural resources data and reports.

4-     Specific websites

 

Field Trips

1-      AUI forest, campus  solar energy  unit/ drip irrigation system

2-   Ifrane region: Ifrane Natural Park, Dayat Aoua wetland…