Environmental issues like climate change represent one of the most significant challenges facing managers, policy makers and scientists today. Responding and adapting to such challenges will drive trillions of dollars of new investment over the coming decades. Against the backdrop of these environmental concerns, there is an increasing demand around the world for highly specialised courses and training to develop skilled professionals who can help meet the challenge posed to us. Since governments, corporates and industries across the world would require able and trained environmental managers, they are looking towards academia for help and support. On their part, universities, research organisations and institutes are playing the important role of guardians of the environment.
Take the Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme for instance, a new global initiative coordinated by the University of Edinburgh that will provide research opportunities and training for South Asian experts to develop the skills and knowledge needed to reduce the impact of as well as help in adapting to climate change. Says Professor Paul van Gardingen, ESPA Director and UNESCO Chair of International Development at the Univer-sity of Edinburgh, “The project will bring together environmental scientists and economists. Working together they will help us understand how ecological damage can be prevented and what institutional changes are needed to ensure that the poor benefit from improvements to the land and ecosystems around them.”
Not only this, the University of Edinburgh Business School has launched maybe the world’s first Masters degree dedicated to climate change investment and the carbon market. The year-long M.Sc. in Carbon Finance, open for entry to PG students from 2011, focuses on the business opportunities and financial flows driven by society’s response to climate change. Says Programme Director Francisco Ascui, “Governments and businesses have woken up to the scale of the climate change challenge. Investment in clean technologies is booming, and carbon emissions are becoming one of the world’s major commodity trades.”
There is a growing need for graduates who are equipped for a career in carbon markets, climate change investment, consulting, or related policy and regulatory roles. Delivering this effectively will require professionals with a deep understanding of new financial mechanisms such as carbon markets and climate investment funds. According to one estimate, there are 2.3 million new jobs in renewable energy already, and clean technology is the third largest sector for venture capital in the US. According to ILO, India alone may generate 9 lakh jobs in the biogas industry.
Similarly, The School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton (UK) has launched an M.Sc. in Energy and Sustainability with Electrical Power Engineering. This new intensive, one-year course will consider aspects of sustainable energy generation as well as the issues concerned with bulk electrical energy delivery to the ultimate user. Informs Professor Adam Wheeler, Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Southampton, “The design and development of new energy networks for the future requires a knowledge and understanding of the current infrastructure, and therefore courses like this will be very useful.”
Interestingly, a small number of Indian universities also offer programmes with a particular emphasis on sustainability issues and they attract candidates from around the world. From the Indian Agricultural Research Institute to the Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad and the School of Planning and Architecture to Jawaharlal Nehru University, these academic institutions provide the kind of challenging and advanced education needed by those who are required to make critical environmental management judgements.
Indeed, the human race has blatantly exploited nature in name of development. But now the onus lies on researchers, academicians, environmental engineers and scientists to make the world tread the path of sustainable development.
Sums up Professor Mark Brayshay, School of Geography, University of Plymouth, “The impact on our world of human activities is so great that natural systems are now failing to absorb the damage that we inflict upon them. Few now doubt that methods to live in a far more sustainable way — in better harmony with our environment — must be found.”