The course will be made available in 4 parts:

Part 1 will be available on 15 January. This part will set the scene to provide an understanding of the predicament humanity faces, the history of human development in the Holocene, as well as providing an overview of the approaches needed to identify and seek solutions. these include a social-ecological system perspective and transdisciplinary approaches.

Part 2 will be available on 29 January. This part will start looking at how to set the goal of sustainability. First we will delve into the problem of how humanity has become disconnected of the biosphere, and the approaches that are being used to reconnect to it, including understanding of ecosystem services and the role of urbanization. Then we will take a closer look at what sustainability means, how to define it and different approaches to implementing it into governance. For this part we will also make the case studies available which will be important for starting to write the first essay.

Essay 1 assignment will be assigned on the 12 February. You will have one week to complete this essay and it should be handed in no later than the 19 February. Detailed instructions about this assignment will be made available to you on the 12th of February.

Part 3 will be available on the 19 February. In this part we first go back to understanding the system, particularly understanding system dynamics and the nature of change. We will be looking at a complex adaptive systems perspective, networks in social and ecological systems and how to think about the notion of system resilience. Then we will start to look at the tools for implementing change, including markets, taxes and subsidies, institutions and stakeholder participation.

Part 4 will be available on the 5 March In this part we will look at how to invoke change, through adaptive governance, knowledge creation, creating common goals and social network management. We end the course content with some concluding remarks.

Essay 2 assignment will be assigned on the 5 March.This will be your second essay assignment, you will have around two weeks to complete it and it should be handed in no later than the 18th of March. Detailed instructions about this assignment will be given on the 5th of March.

Participation grade .All parts of this course have a corresponding take-home section. In this sections discussion forum, you are required to make a summary of your personal important insight. You should make one summary for each part of the course, so 8 in total. Participation in this discussion is required to receive full credit for the course.

Other info

Required reading

The following is a list of the reading material required for this course

• Setting the scene: None

• The Anthropocene: Steffen et al. 2003, Rockström et al. 2009

• Reconnecting to the Biosphere: Folke 2011

• Sustainability : Griggs et al. 2013, and comment by SRC centre researchers: Norström et al. 2013

• System dynamics: Rocha 2014

• Governance toolbox: Folke et al. 2005

• Invoking change: Folke et al. 2005

Please make sure to check out the Required Reading section for each module! Reading this material will greatly help your understand and learning.