| CODE | ISS5120 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Climate Change and Small Islands | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Islands and Small States Institute | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | There is a worldwide acceptance that changes in climate are already affecting both the industrialised developed nations and the developing countries. The scientific evidence is now overwhelming, and it undoubtedly shows that climate change presents remarkably serious global risks, especially in small islands, and it demands a critical global response. Within this context it is important to highlight the unique role of small islands, often identified as the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. Study-Unit Aims: The objective of the study-unit is to provide students with a solid theoretical background to understand the basic principles of economic and policy aspects of climate change. Students will improve their knowledge of the interactions between economic activity and the climate system and of mitigation and adaptation options in this regard, at the national and international levels. The focus will be on small islands. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify the factors that lead to climate change, and the manner in which human activity contributes this global warming; - Detect what policies lead to climate change adaptation; - Recognize that although there is a growing scientific consensus about climate change, there are various complex natural interrelationships which make it difficult to attribute certain changes to climate change with certainty. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Apply techniques for ‘measuring’ the effect of climate change including temperature, precipitation and sea-level rise and assess the ‘best predictions’ of current climate models. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Nurse, L.A., R.F. McLean, J. Agard, L.P. Briguglio, V. Duvat-Magnan, N. Pelesikoti, E. Tompkins, and A.Webb, 2014: Small islands. In IPCC: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, Chapter 29. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1613-1654. Supplementary Readings: - Hulme, M., 2009. Why we disagree about climate change. Cambridge University Press. - IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, (Downloadable from http://www.ipcc.ch/ also available through VLE) (Pages from 2 to 31). - Stern, N., (Eds), 2006. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. - Schipper, E.L.F., & Burton, I., 2009. Adaptation to Climate change. Earthscan. - Briguglio, L., Koshy, K., Nurse, L., Wong, P., (2008). Climate change and Small Island Developing States. Commonwealth Secretariat: London. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Tutorial | ||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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