SLE740 - Climate Change, Adaptation and Mitigation
Unit details
| Year | 2025 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Burwood (Melbourne), Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit Chair: | Trimester 1: Robert Faggian |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | Nil |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment: | 2 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 1 hour seminar per week. |
| Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment: | Online independent and collaborative learning including 1 x 1 hour scheduled online practical experience (workshop) per week. |
| Typical study commitment: | Students will on average spend 150 hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit. This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site. |
Content
This unit will provide a broad introduction to climate change, climate change adaptation and mitigation. These topics will be explored from a scientific, societal and policy perspective. The Unit draws on case studies and examples from around the world to look at climate change in a variety of contexts, such as its implications for the natural resource base, sustainable food production, integrated land and water management, common law liability, corporate social responsibility and infrastructure, amongst others.
The unit will develop the knowledge and understanding required by professionals involved in natural resource management (including agriculture and food production, forest and resource management), spatial and economic planning, policy development, or anyone with an interest in climate change, to develop appropriate responses to the risks and opportunities posed by a changing climate.
Some of the topics covered include: climate science (global climate modelling, regional downscaling of projections, uncertainty); climate impacts (on socio-economic and environmental systems, disproportionate impacts according to gender and socio-economic status), climate policy (including mitigation, decision-making, risk frameworks, uncertainty, no-regret policies); adaptation (in urban and regional/rural systems, adaptive capacity and its assessment); and development of integrated (adaptation + mitigation) climate action plans and policies, and systems science (regional systems, resilience theory, adaptive capacity).
Learning Outcomes
| ULO | These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can: | Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) |
|---|---|---|
| ULO1 | Explain how climate policies are developed and discuss the complexity and uncertainty of this process in the context of the broader public climate change debate. | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO2 | Explain the principles of adaptation (from incremental through to transformational) and discuss them in a context-appropriate manner. | GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities |
| ULO3 | Analyse the interconnected nature of a regional system (and its dependencies on climate) to determine exposure to the risks associated with climate change. | GLO4: Critical thinking |
| ULO4 | Critically consider the elements of effective climate change policies. | GLO4: Critical thinking |
Assessment
| Assessment Description | Student output | Grading and weighting (% total mark for unit) | Indicative due week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1 | 10-minute oral presentation | 30% | Week 7 |
| Assessment 2 | 1,500 word written report | 30% | Week 11 |
| End-of-Unit Assessment | Timed online test | 40% | End-of-Unit Assessment Period |
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
Learning resource
The texts and reading list for SLE740 can be found via the University Library.
Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Unit Fee Information
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.