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Lecturer(s)
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Melotíková Petra, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Syrovátka Miroslav, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
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Opršal Zdeněk, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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1. Global sustainable development 2. Development and quality of life 3. Sustainability 4. Challenges for sustainable development ? human population 5. Challenges for sustainable development ? institutions 6. Challenges for sustainable development ? environmental justice 7. Growth, environment, and climate change 8. Global environmental change ? forests and deforestation 9. Global environmental change ? soil and desertification 10. Global environmental change ? biodiversity and extinction 11. External development policies 12. Altruism and the long-term future
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Monologic Lecture(Interpretation, Training), Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Group work
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Learning outcomes
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The aim of the course is to provide students with an overview of sustainable development from an economic, environmental, and geographical perspective. We will begin by examining current development issues, measuring quality of life, and questions of sustainability. We will then discuss population and institutional issues of sustainability, environmental justice, and the environmental context of economic growth. In the next section, we will analyze global environmental changes, including deforestation, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss. The final section deals with how trade, aid, and other foreign policies, together with ethical approaches such as altruism and long-termism, can shape a sustainable future.
After completing the course, students will be able to: 1. Understand and critically discuss the concept of sustainable development, the relationship between development and poverty, and the role of global goals (including sustainable development goals). 2. Analyze and evaluate different approaches and metrics of well-being and sustainability and demonstrate the links between the concepts of sustainability and responsibility. 3. Explore how population and economic dynamics intersect with environmental sustainability and explain the economic perspective on climate change. 4. Assess how international trade, development aid, and related policies affect sustainable development and how to reconcile economic growth with environmental stewardship. 5. Critically analyze the role of institutions in sustainable development, including the tragedy of the commons, applications of game theory, and community resource management. 6. Identify and explain the dimensions of environmental justice, ecological debt, and ecologically unequal exchange at the local and global levels. 7. Analyze global environmental changes affecting forests, soil, and biodiversity from the contrasting perspectives of classical environmental economics and political ecology. 8. Compare the approaches of effective altruism and longtermism to solving current and future problems.
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Prerequisites
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The completion of this course is not conditioned upon completion of any other courses
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Student performance, Seminar Work, Written exam
Active participation in discussions and webinars (20%), final knowledge and competence test (80%)
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Recommended literature
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Adams, W. M. (2020). Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in a Developing World. Fourth Edition. London, New York.
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Coyle, D. (2025). The measure of progress: Counting what really matters.
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Goodstein, E. S., Wong, J. C., Polasky, S. (2025). Economics and the environment (10th ed.)..
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Hanley, N., Shogren, J. F., & White, B. (2019). Introduction to environmental economics (3rd ed.).. Oxford.
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Harris, J. M., & Roach, B. (2017). Environmental and natural resource economics: A contemporary approach (4th ed.).. New York, NY.
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Robbins, P., Hintz, J. G., & Moore, S. A. (2022). Environment and society: A critical introduction (3rd ed.).. Hoboken, NJ.
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Stevenson, H. (2018). Global Environmental Politics.
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