Course overview
Despite the multiple ecological challenges facing the planet, the imperative for economic progress remains, and as a result there will be ongoing impacts caused by mining, urbanisation and other forms of development, including work needed to build towards green energy transitions. In this context, this course aims to teach students how to assess impacts, understand their relative impact and to develop the skills to identify how to reduce those risks and build more sustainable outcomes. EIA is an internationally recognised process used to assist policy makers, government and industry work together to build projects that will overall benefit communities. The course will also aim to actively embed skills development, as students will be required, via use of case studies and simulations, to actually do an EIA.
Course learning outcomes
- Communicate both orally and in written form the key aspects of environmental impact
- Understand the different steps within environmental impact assessment
- Demonstrate understanding of how to identify, measure, rank and mitigate environmental, social, economic and cultural impacts
- Understand how to liaise with and the importance of stakeholders in the EIA process
- Be able to access different case studies/examples of EIA in practice
- Explain the major principles of environmental impact assessment