INTERDISCIPLINARY CASE STUDY

The course is included in the Environmental Sciences master programme, curriculum on ""Global Environmental Change",GEC. The main objective of the programme is to train highly skilled professionals, who could put into use their interdisciplinary knowledge for identifying and solving complex environmental problems. In particular, the GEC curriculum aims at providing an integrated and systemic view of economic and environmental dynamics, in order to enable master graduates to deal with global environmental challenges, in the context of sustainable development. To this regard, the challenges connected to adaptation and mitigation to Climate Changes will be one of the major focus of the curriculum. In this context, the course aims at valorizing the body of multidisciplinary knowledge delivered by the rest of the programme, focusing on the elaboration of a report concerning a large, interdisciplinary theme, connected to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in presence of Global Changes.

Attending the classes and thoroughly studying the course notes and reading materials will enable students to achieve the following learning outcomes.
1) Knowledge and comprehension
Knowledge concerning the links among the selected theme, the SDGs and Global Changes. In 2018-19 the theme will be: food security.
2) Capacity of applying knowledge and comprehension
To be able to: carry out a literature search, identify research questions, structure a scientific report, integrate data and information found in the literature, elaborate them and discuss the results.
3) Assessment capacity
To be able to assess the information content of different literature sources and databases.

The course aims at valorizing previous background and knowledge, focusing on the investigation of a specific, though broad theme. Therefore, no specific prequisite is required and, hence it can be attended also by mobility students.

The human food basket. Main sources of carbohydrates and proteins. Terrestrial and marine sources. Food availability and conflicts.
Aquaculture. Extensive and intensive cultures. Local environmental impact of aquaculture. Models for the sustainable management of aquaculture. Life Cycle Assessment of aquatic products. Sustainability indicators. Effects of climate changes of aquaculture: scenario analysis. Assessment of integrated productions: the case of aquaponics.
Agricolture. Crop production models. Mechanistic models. Estimation of the yields of the main crops used as food and animal feed. Forecasting crop production under different climate change scenarios. Environmental impact of crop and livestock production and their contribution to Green House Gases, GHSs, emissions. First generation biofuels: the food, energy and environment trilemma.
Food security and food waste. Estimating food waste. Why food is wasted in industrialized and developing countries. Environmental load connected to food waste. Importance of consumer behaviour and diets.

Slides, reports and scientific papers provided by the professor.

The achievement of the learning objectives if verified by means of a report and its presentation using slideshow. The written test account for 24/30 to the final mark, the presentation of the remaining 6/30.

In the first 12 lectures, the content of the course is illustrated in seminar-like lectures, based on powerpoin slideshows In the remaining 3 lectures, the professor monitors the drafting of the report. In the first one, the selection of topics is discussed, based on a 1 page abstract. In the second one, the methodology is reviewed. In the third one, suggestion for impriving the results and discussion sections are provided.

English

written and oral