CCS5201 Introduction to Climate Modelling

The course introduces the science and techniques of climate modelling through lectures and hands-on applications. In short, this course explains how climate models work. The objective of this course is for the students develop a basic understanding of climate models work and how they ‘add value’ in climate research. The course will provide good insights into the principles that govern the earth system and modelling them, through lectures, hands-on training and assignments. The students will also be introduced to climate data and will be guided to perform some fundamental data analyses for model evaluations and climate projections for the future. The course is helpful to anyone interested in both weather and climate science.

CCS5202 Climate Hazards, Risks and Uncertainty

Hazards and the risks posed to society are rapidly changing in response to climate change. This course explores the changes in magnitude and frequency of hazards across marine, hydrological, climatic and ecological systems. The cascading and compounding outcomes of the changing hazardscape are also evaluated in the context of environmental thresholds and tipping points. Risks to society and methods to identify and understand escalating risks using stochastic and probabilistic approaches are examined. The multiple dimensions of uncertainty are explored along with understanding the effective communication of risk and uncertainty, and how decisions can be made under deep uncertainty.

CCS5203 Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems

Present-day society depends heavily on social-ecological systems as a source of much of the raw materials, food, water and energy it relies upon. Social-ecological systems are characterized by dynamic and complex interactions between humans and the environment. Conventional management approaches emphasizing system efficiency may inadvertently reduce resilience, pushing critically important social-ecological systems towards unpredictable behaviour, regime shifts, or collapse. Through case studies and student-led discussion, this course will cover a variety of conceptual and analytical frames through which to filter complexity and enhance resilience of social-ecological systems.

CCS5204 Water, Food and Energy Insecurities

The course discusses key issues in the nexus among water, food and energy, in the context of climate change. The course lays insights in viewing this nexus as a ‘resource scarcity’, globally, in a general context and in the Southeast Asian region, specifically, given the anthropogenic consequences these sectors have had. Bearing in mind the complex interactions of these three resources opens rooms to explore the needs for a renewed regional/national drive to combat the negative impacts of climate change. Water, food, and energy insecurities are impediments to social stability and economic growth that there is an immediate need to address these challenges towards a sustainable future.

CCS5205 Sustainable Finance

The course introduces the origins, theories, practices, geographies, and debates on sustainable finance. It explains how finance, through its instruments, markets, and institutions affects and is affected by economic, social, and environmental issues, at all scales, from individual households and firms, through nations, to global organizations. It provides students with enhanced financial literacy and ability to understand financial data, including the application of financial analysis to various sectoral and geographical contexts. By the end students will gain a better understanding on how the financial system can contribute to sustainable development and how it needs to be transformed to do so.

CCS5206 How to Live Well on a Damaged Planet

This course explores how life is being reshaped, reimagined and re-practiced in the Anthropocene, an era of cascading social and environmental crises. Centering approaches drawn from social and cultural geography alongside geohumanities, environmental humanities and science and technology studies, we explore impacts and legacies of planetary change on entangled human, non-human and inorganic life. We trace how unprecedented shifts are provoking diverse communities to reformulate what it means to live, and to live well. Rather than positing the ‘problem’, we will learn the arts of listening; rather than formulating ‘solutions’, we will attend to speculative and place-based responses.

CCS5207 Coastal Vulnerability, Risk and Adaptation

Climate change and sea-level rise threaten the existence and livelihoods of more than 400 million people who live in low-lying coastal areas. This 10-day field-based course explores the vulnerability and risk posed by seal-level rise in coastal communities and examines adaption approaches and implementation strategies adopted. Using field examples students will gain an understanding of the real versus perceived threats to coastal communities and will introduce approaches to conceptualise and quantify vulnerability and determine risk profiles in coastal settings. The course will also explore the robustness of adaption approaches and implementation in coastal settings and will contrast developed and developing country approaches.   

CCS5103 Political Economy of Climate Change & Sustainable Development

This course introduces the political and economic dimensions of climate governance that shape sustainable development goals and ecological outcomes. It aims to develop an understanding of key issues at the policy-science interface of climate governance. Students will learn about the unequal spatial and social distribution of climate risks and impacts that affect food security, biodiversity and climate adaptation at local, urban, national, regional (ASEAN) and global scales. Combining lectures, seminar-style discussions, assignments and student presentations, the course will bring insights about concepts such as climate justice and nature-based solutions that have basic and applied policy relevance for Asian contexts.