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There are more than 750 million people living on islands, from the densely populated urban centres of the Philippines and Hawaii’s to the atolls and archipelagos of the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean. Climate change is a global challenge that requires locally designed interventions and action. Islands are at the front line of the effects of climate change. Key challenges: rising temperature and sea levels, lack of fresh water supply, plastic pollution, sewage blockages, high number of tourists in season time, dependence on fossil fuels imports and high prices.

This module provides an understanding of the relationships between human needs and resource use under different climatic scenarios with focus on islands. It explores different perspectives on the goals of improving human wellbeing and environmental. Our goal is to expose you to a range of issues and draw on practical case studies, possible solutions, ways to inform decision-makers and general public.

Upon successful completion of this module, students will:

• show the practical application of our academic content, helping them to embed the SDGs into their studies and their working lives
• analyse the complex interrelationships between human, resource use, natural environment, including cause/effect relationships across scales from the local to the global and placing the issues within the wider debates surrounding sustainability
• explain how managers need to compromise when making decisions, and to acknowledge the fact that any decision in the management of resources and sustainable development will involve trade-offs
• learn to communicate the idea to policy makers and to a wider audience
• appreciate the relevance of group work and group decision-making processes in sustainable development practice

Applicants must have completed a minimum of one year of undergraduate study in any subject area by the time they enrol on the module. Please see the Entry Requirements page for further details.

Classes (usually three or four hours per day) take place on the Bloomsbury campus from Monday to Friday any time between 9am and 6pm.

Professor Catalina Spataru, Professor in Global Energy and Resources, the founder and Head of UCL Islands Laboratory and Director of Energy Institute has extensive experience in energy and resource nexus research, sustainability and is actively promoting whole system thinking and good practice through research, teaching and enterprise activities. She is the author of two books Whole Energy System Dynamics and Transitioning Island Nations into Sustainable Energy Hubs: Emerging Research and Opportunities. She developed tools for decision makers for islands (ISLA) and for assessment of trade-offs between resources (IDA3/5) and together with researchers and students analysed more than 300 islands case studies worldwide.