Productive Environments (ENVS10011)

Productive Environments will look at living and ecosystem resources harnessed for producing goods and services to meet human needs. Questions such as the following will be addressed, to name but a few: How are living resources managed for the production of goods and services, such as construction and design materials, food, fibres and water? What systems are available for meeting such needs? What are the consequences of production and consumption on environments managed for immaterial needs such as recreation or biodiversity? How can human impacts on ecosystems be monitored and managed?

The subject will approach these questions by building an understanding of ecosystem function and ecosystem management implications and will introduce tools and issues relevant to environments managed for purposes such as agricultural food production, forestry for timber production, bioenergy production, delivering of ecosystem services and biodiversity, reserves and parks for recreational use etc. It will explain how such understanding feeds into planning and management tools used in impact assessment, ecosystem management and regional planning, land and landscape management, landscape architecture applications, assessment of environmental impacts of human activities, and implementation in regional planning.

The subject will deliver the skills and understanding in a mix of lectures delivering firm scientific principles, tutorials and project work using practical examples and case studies, and excursions to study productive environment issues first hand.