The course examines Swedish forests through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals on climate action and affordable clean energy.
Forestry and Sustainable Development (4 ECTS), Course code: PFG0072
Subject area: Technology, Forest Management
Contact: David A. Agar, Associate Senior Lecturer, david.agar@slu.se
Entry requirements
The course is intended for PhD students within and outside of SLU and from a variety of disciplines. Reasonable knowledge of English is important to be able to read material, contribute to discussions and complete written assignments. Admitted as PhD or Licentiate student.
Objectives and content
The course examines Swedish forests through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with a focus on affordable clean energy (SDG 7) and climate action (SDG 13). The main purpose is to explore the potential of forest resources and forest-based industries in achieving national and EU energy policy objectives within the sphere of emission mitigation in society.
The course uses both quantitative and qualitative methods and draws on national and international statistics, energy and material assessments, emission accounting and technological factors. The course aims at an interdisciplinary audience and encourages cross-discipline discussions on forest, energy and climate issues.
Pedagogical form
The course consists of a combination of individual self-study, classroom lectures, small-group work, discussions and a final project ending in presentation. Composition work by students equate to a maximum of five written pages and a final presentation.
Timetable (subject to Covid-19 situation)
The course timetable consists of three parts with a varying degree of study pace; i) an individual study task two weeks before the course begins, ii) four days of full time physical meetings in a classroom setting and iii) a final project task and presentation to be completed over a two week period. The total course time is estimated at 80 hours with 14 hours of lecture time, 10 hours of group tasks, 50 hours of self-study tasks and 6 hours for the final presentations session.
Start date: 8 February 2021 (two weeks individual study)
Physical meetings: 22-25 February 2021 (4 days in Umeå)
End date: 12 March 2021 (two weeks to work on final project)
Deadline to apply: 25 January 2021
Evaluation
Course evaluation is performed through active participation and attendance, and by producing individual assignments. Attendance during classroom lectures is mandatory. The grading scale is pass or fail.