International development

Disasters, Environment and Development

Module code: 005DA
Level 6
30 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Seminar, Lecture
Assessment modes: Coursework, Report

Environmental change and disaster risk present fundamental threats to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. It has been argued that the negative impacts of environmental and climatic change and environmentally related disasters threaten to roll back decades of development gains.

Building resilient and sustainable societies means addressing both climate and disaster risks, our understanding of the linkages between these issues and integrating these risks, as well as potential opportunities, into development planning and budgeting.

This module provids an exploration of the connections between disasters, the environment and development.

The module is split into three parts:

  • a conceptual part that explores similarities and differences in concepts, frameworks and terminology used in these different areas
  • a problem part that looks at the issues of ‘Droughts, floods and food security’, ‘Complex disasters’, ‘Environmental migration’, ‘Trapped populations’ and ‘Resource wars’
  • a ‘solution’ part that looks at some of the possible avenues that may help address these problems including ‘Remittance bonds’, ‘Serious games’, ‘Blended knowledge’ and ‘Science for Humanitarian Emergencies & Resilience’.

Module learning outcomes

  • Understand the conceptual links between disaster, environmental change and sustainable development.
  • Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, and concepts around disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and development.
  • Understand the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge around planning for future developmental actions in a changing environment.
  • Critically discuss and analyse evidence for the role of environmental stresses and shocks on patterns of conflict or migration in the global south.
  • Manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources in the three overlapping areas of climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and development.
  • Develop a critical awareness of the application of serious games.