Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Sustainable Social Systems
Explore complex water-energy-food nexus in social-ecological systems. Learn transdisciplinary analysis for sustainable resource management.
Explore complex water-energy-food nexus in social-ecological systems. Learn transdisciplinary analysis for sustainable resource management.
This course offers a comprehensive exploration of the water-energy-food nexus within social-ecological systems, emphasizing transdisciplinary thinking and complex system analysis. Students will learn to view communities and countries as intricate social-ecological systems, analyzing their water, energy, and food metabolism patterns. The curriculum covers advanced concepts in sustainability science, including metabolic analysis, complexity theory, and quantitative story-telling. Key topics include the challenges in nexus analysis, food and energy accounting, water resource management, and the application of multi-scale grammars to sustainability issues. The course also addresses critical perspectives on mainstream sustainability narratives, introducing concepts like post-normal science and the limitations of conventional quantitative analyses. Through case studies and practical applications, students will develop skills in integrated mapping, GIS tools, and processor design for nexus analysis. This course is ideal for those seeking a deeper, more critical understanding of sustainability challenges and innovative approaches to resource management in complex systems.
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What you'll learn
Understand the complexities of the water-energy-food nexus in social-ecological systems
Apply metabolic analysis to assess sustainability in complex systems
Critically evaluate mainstream sustainability narratives and indicators
Develop skills in food, energy, and water accounting across multiple scales
Use multi-scale grammars and GIS tools for integrated sustainability analysis
Analyze case studies of nexus challenges in various geographical contexts
Skills you'll gain
This course includes:
11.7 Hours PreRecorded video
8 assignments
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There are 9 modules in this course
This course, "Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food," offers an advanced exploration of the complex interactions between water, energy, and food resources within social-ecological systems. Over nine comprehensive modules, students will delve into the intricacies of the water-energy-food nexus, learning to apply transdisciplinary thinking and complex systems analysis to sustainability challenges. The curriculum begins with an introduction to key concepts and theoretical foundations, including metabolic analysis and the challenges of quantitative assessments in sustainability. It then progresses through detailed examinations of food, energy, and water accounting, highlighting the complexities and interconnections in each domain. The course emphasizes practical applications, introducing students to tools like multi-scale grammars, GIS, and integrated mapping for analyzing social-ecological systems. Later modules focus on real-world case studies and the application of advanced analytical frameworks. The course concludes with a critical examination of evidence-based policy and introduces concepts like post-normal science and quantitative story-telling, encouraging students to rethink traditional approaches to sustainability analysis and policy-making.
Introduction
Module 1 · 1 Hours to complete
Module 1. Introducing the basic concepts
Module 2 · 2 Hours to complete
Module 2. Acknowledging the poor quality of existing quantitative analyses
Module 3 · 2 Hours to complete
Module 3. The challenge of food accounting
Module 4 · 2 Hours to complete
Module 4. The challenge of energy accounting
Module 5 · 2 Hours to complete
Module 5. The challenge of water accounting
Module 6 · 1 Hours to complete
Module 6. The metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems across multiple scales and dimensions
Module 7 · 3 Hours to complete
Module 7. Applications of MuSIASEM 2.0
Module 8 · 2 Hours to complete
Module 8. Time for "something completely different": from the Cartesian dream to quantitative story-telling via evidence based policy
Module 9 · 2 Hours to complete
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Instructors
Expert in Sensitivity Analysis and Science for Policy
Andrea Saltelli is an accomplished researcher with expertise in physical chemistry, environmental sciences, applied statistics, impact assessment, and science for policy. His primary focus lies in sensitivity analysis of model outputs, utilizing statistical tools to interpret results from mathematical and computational models. He has also developed sensitivity auditing as an extension of sensitivity analysis, which evaluates the entire evidence-generating process within a policy context.
ICREA Research Professor in Sustainability
Mario Giampietro is an ICREA Research Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), specializing in the integrated assessment of sustainability issues through complex systems theory. He developed the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), which combines biophysical and socioeconomic variables across multiple scales to link socio-economic systems' metabolism with environmental constraints. His recent research focuses on the interconnections between land use, food, energy, and water in relation to sustainable development goals. Dr. Giampietro has authored over 150 scientific publications, including six books, and has coordinated several significant research projects such as the Horizon2020 project "Moving Towards Adaptive Governance in Complexity: Informing Nexus Security" (MAGIC). He teaches the course Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: The Nexus between Water, Energy, and Food, where he explores the complexities of sustainability and resource management.
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4.5 course rating
90 ratings
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