Pacific Centre for Environment & Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD)

Course Descriptions

 


PC412            Climate Finance & Adaptation Project Design


Prerequisites: Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: Not offered                                                        Semester 2: O at C

The climate finance course provides an overview of climate change finance, beginning with international finance flows and financiers, and continuing with challenges and opportunities for countries seeking to access financing for climate change activities, including adaptation, mitigation and climate/disaster resilience projects. The course supports students develop skills in designing related to the design of bankable climate change projects. Through course assignments, students will develop a draft climate change relevant project. The course is ideal for students interested in working on climate change projects, policy development, and enhancing financial flows to Pacific Island countries for climate change and resilience related activities.


PC414            Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerability & Adaptation


Prerequisites: Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: O at C                                                                  Semester 2: Not offered

This course examines the range of impacts and the degree of vulnerability posed by climate change to Pacific Island Countries, and critically reviews the adaptation strategies to address vulnerabilities, at both national and community levels. The course is intended for persons in the Pacific Islands involved in medium to longterm planning for natural resources, economic, and social development, and/or the natural environment, especially graduates working in government or NGOs who are not familiar with the climate related issues in the Pacific.


PC415            Climate Science                                                             


Prerequisites: Admission into the Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: Not offered                                                         Semester 2: O at C

This course provides important insights into the rapidly developing and fast moving realm of climate science among future climate leaders of the Pacific, to understand the scientific basis of the threats of climate change impacts and to develop appropriate measures to address and manage the challenges of these adverse impacts. This course navigates through new scientific evidences on our current scientific understanding of the earth’s climate including those which point at important tipping points leading to perhaps irreversible changes in major systems and ecosystems. The course also provides adequate skills in climatology of the Pacific region and the tools/methodology applied in the analyses and is thus useful for those intending to work with national meteorological services or other government agencies.


PC420            Research Projects in Climate Change                     


Prerequisites: PC414 and /  or PC415, for  Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change:PC425 and/ or PC427 for   Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship.

Semester 1: O at C                                                                   Semester 2: O at C

This course is suitable for students who want to do a short research project in climate science, climate finance, tropical meteorology, physical oceanography, disaster risk management, food security, climate finance, environmental impact assessment, climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation and ecosystem-based adaptation at the postgraduate level. The course is tailored to the individual student’s requirements and is designed as an opportunity to work on a particular research topic. Students are required to do an independent research project, which includes a major report and a seminar. Before registering for this course, students must first seek out a supervisor, obtain their agreement to provide supervision, and be assigned a research topic.


PC423            Food Security & Climate Change                             


Prerequisites: Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: O at C                                                                   Semester 2: Not offered

The continuing exposure and experience of climate change both locally and globally has made food security a global concern especially to vulnerable small island states of the Pacific Island community. This course examines the food system and status of food security at pre, during and post extreme climatic change events and challenges and factors affecting food security. The various international Food Security frameworks and policies will be examined and compared to the Pacific Food Security framework in order to help design appropriate adaptation protocols that will contribute to a climate resilient and sustainable food secure communities. The focus of adaptations will be related to strengthening the four pillars of food security through application of agro-technology and agromet decision support systems, resilient crops and farming systems, post-harvest, food safety and food preservations. The major project  of  the  course  will  involve  Food  Security  assessments  and appropriate adaptations for selected Pacific Island communities. The examples and best practices and case studies in this course are from many food security resilient programs that are implemented in the Pacific Island Region. These were implemented by partners such as national governments, Pacific Community (SPC), FAO and NGOs. This course will be delivered in collaboration with other relevant USP schools (SAFT, SBCS) and Food Security Partners (SPC, FAO, Food Security and Livelihood Cluster (Fiji Ministry of Agriculture).  The course will be delivered online using Moodle platform and comprise of 100% course work. 


PC425            Environmental Impact Assessment & Strategic Environmental Assessment         


Prerequisites: Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change and Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship.

Semester 1: Not offered                                                Semester 2: O at C

The course teaches students the principles and methodology of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of development proposals.  The course is cross-disciplinary building on environmental expertise acquired from undergraduate science, arts, business and law programmes to enhance research skills and an understanding of methodological issues. Students will acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the best practice assessment processes to critically evaluate development projects for environmental sustainability to support sustainable development throughout the Pacific region.


PC426            Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for Climate & Disaster Resilience


Prerequisites: Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change and Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship.

Semester 1: Not offered                                                         Semester 2: O at C

This course provides the skills to evaluate inter-linkages between climate change and ecological resilience, and is centred on ecosystem-based adaptation, with an emphasis on the protection, sustainable management and conservation of Pacific ecosystems. Students will gain knowledge that they will need in the real world, such as ecosystem-based Geographic Information System (GIS) and environmental governance, making them leaders in the area of ecosystem management in the face of climate change. The course modules include online presentations, regularly updated scientific literature, multimedia content and assessed written reports. The course will also provide comprehensive knowledge of Pacific terrestrial and marine ecosystems, highlighting the importance of conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity, and the importance of incorporating traditional and cultural approaches in adaptation measures to promote resilient ecosystems.


PC427            Social Impact Assessment (SIA)


Prerequisites: Admission into Postgraduate Diploma in Climate  Change and Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship.

Semester 1:0 at C                                                                     Semester 2: Not offered

This course provides students with a fundamental understanding of social impact assessment as a tool for improving the effectiveness of development activities in Pacific island countries. It introduces social problems and issues that have frequently undermined development effectiveness throughout the world, while emphasizing issues of particular relevance in the Pacific: climate resilience and adaptation, customary lands and common property resources, cultural organization and leadership, and overcoming practical constraints common to small or remote locations. Through case studies and practical exercises, students will be expected to attain knowledge of social impact assessment concepts and methods, and to demonstrate how they may be applied in a Pacific island context.


PC428            Tropical Meteorology


Prerequisites: MA111, PH202 and admission Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: B at C                                                                  Semester 2: Not offered

The course provides an in-depth study of tropical atmospheric dynamics and processes. The course will cover atmospheric general circulation, the structure and behaviour of weather systems, development, displacement and intensification of weather systems, key characteristics of the tropical atmosphere including convection, boundary layer processes, local and diurnal weather phenomena, mesoscale tropical systems, tropical storm structure and energetics, and tropical cyclone development. The course is designed to provide a quantitative in-depth understanding of key atmospheric processes and dynamics central to climate change in the region. It is an ideal course for students studying climate change science or interested in weather forecasting.


PC430            Advanced Physical Oceanography


Prerequisites: MA111, MS213 and Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: Not offered                                                        Semester 2: O at C

The course provides an in-depth study of the physical ocean including ocean dynamics and processes. The course will cover physical properties of seawater, ocean structure, waves and tides, observational and data analysis methods, ocean dynamics and air-sea interactions. The course is designed to provide a quantitative in-depth understanding of key oceanographic processes and dynamics. It is an ideal course for students interested in climate variability, tropical meteorology, oceanographic processes, ocean/atmosphere interaction and climate change. Once mastered, the skills acquired from this course will be sufficient to enable a person to do basic oceanographic research and write scientific reports.


PC431            Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience


Prerequisites: Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change and Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Ocean Stewardship.

Semester 1: O at C                                                                  Semester 2: Not offered

This course is designed to familiarise the learners with a theoretical and practical understanding of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to support resilience building in the Pacific. It provides comprehensive knowledge on hazards, risk and vulnerability and practical uses of tools to assess risk. Actions to improve people’s preparedness to disaster will be also be critically analysed. The links between natural hazards and climate change and between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are analysed. Students will develop better communication skills for DRR with a better understanding of the importance of incorporating gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches in DRR.


PC432            Disaster Response & Recovery


Prerequisites: Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change

Semester 1: Not offered                                                        Semester 2: O at C

This course is designed to familiarise the learners with a broad understanding of the actions to be taken to respond to, and recover from, disasters in a Pacific context. The different aspects of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and the Humanitarian Response will be critically analysed with illustrations from examples from the region. The course will also analyse the recovery phase with a focus on building back better in a changing climate and with the aim to build resilience of Pacific communities. Students will develop better communication skills for Disaster Management (DM) with a better understanding of the importance of incorporating gender-sensitive and inclusive approaches.


PC440            Geospatial Data Applications for Environmental Planning & Management


Prerequisites: Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Islands and Oceans Stewardship (PGD-IOS)

Semester 1: Not offered                                                        Semester 2: B at C

The course introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing applications in environmental planning and management using a combination of proprietary and free and open-source software. Geospatial data is used to identify, evaluate and solve environmental problems. The course will give students a firm understanding of spatial data models, data projections, geoprocessing, spatial data attribution, and other fundamentals of complex spatial data collection, processing, analysis and visualisation using both commercial and open source tools/solutions.

Various methods in GIS and Remote Sensing data collection and analysis are considered, and the application of these evaluated. These include, but are not limited to, the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including online GPS processing using AUSPOS, Survey 1231 QField, Kobo Toolbox, ArcGlS Collector, Collect Earth Online (OpenForis), USGS Earth Explorer and Drone Survey (Drone to Map). Through case studies and applied field and computer laboratory activities, students will attain knowledge of geospatial concepts and methods, and will be able to demonstrate how they may be applied in a Pacific island context. The course will provide an opportunity for students to design a project, and with a dedicated practical component integrate the application of an appropriate geospatial technique to addressing a specific environmental planning and management challenge.


PC700F          Climate Change Master’s Thesis (Full-Time)

PC700P          Climate Change Master’s Thesis (Part-Time)

PC750F          Climate Change DRP (Full-Time)

PC750P          Climate Change DRP (Part-Time)

PC800F          Climate Change PhD Thesis (Full-Time)


PC800P      Climate Change PhD Thesis (Part-Time)

USP Chat Service
Lets start: