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The workshop was an attempt
to discuss the curriculum and brief content of published
Environmental Management for Sustainable Human Development
program, which utilized both of the principles of sustainability as
the basis for the implementation of human centered policies on
environmental management.
For the past three years, Western University, Azerbaijan and Mississippi Valley State University, U.S.A. have developed the curriculum and brief contents of the new courses on environmental management for sustainable human development. This project was developed with funding from USAID under the International Development Partnership Program, which is managed by the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation.
The primary goal of the project was the training of a new generation of environmental managers and specialists who will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to plan and implement economic and social programs and projects which meet the requirements of sustainable human development.
The crucial stage for meeting this challenge is the development of a curriculum for relevant university level program, which would embrace new knowledge on nature sustainability and sustainable human development as well as routine modern knowledge accumulated worldwide in the field of environmental planning and management.
The development of the curriculum and brief content became possible as a result of round table discussions and presentations between faculties of both universities as well as discussions with experts of UNDP and other international development institutions, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and Ministry of Education, national and international NGOs. The lectures presented by the authors at both universities, contributed greatly to the work over the core curriculum and shaping the contents of the suggested courses.
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The
unique “Environmental Management for Sustainable Human Development”
workshop was conducted on March 16, 2005 at Western University.
The
published book with curriculum and brief content contains a
description of modern principles of environmental management as they
relate to nature sustainability and human development. For the
first time, environmental planning and management course will
address sustainability and human development. Launched courses have
been designed to cover (a) methods of integral quantitative
assessment of envSironmental impacts and changes embracing all levels
of biological organization from the molecular to the macro levels;
(b) complex systems which provide environmental security through the
combined use of relevant technologies and mitigations; (c)
indicators for sustainable development planning, assessment,
management and monitoring; and (d) human development indicators as
tools to assess the effectiveness of current environmental planning
and management and as predictive assessment tools.