Conference on “Sustainable Environmental Management in Urban Asia”
Our readers may be interested in the forthcoming conference in Singapore on 15-16 December 2011, on “Sustainable Environmental Management” organised by the National University of Singapore (NUS)’s Master of Science in Environmental Management programme. The two day conference will address the issues regarding Urban Planning that are unique to Asia.
The information (as obtained from their website and conference brochure) is published here:
The NUS Multi-disciplinary Masters in Environmental Management Programme (MEM) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. The M.Sc.in Environmental Management (MEM) Programme, offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) was launched in July 2001.
In celebration of the Programme’s 10th Anniversary, a conference on the theme, “Sustainable Environmental Management in Urban Asia”, will be held on 15-16 December 2011, at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House, NUS.
To download the full brochure with details of the conference speakers and topics, please click here.
Registration can be done online here. There is an early bird discount for those who register before Nov 30, 2011. Teachers in educational institutions get the same as NUS staff, and all students only pay $130.
From the conference brochure:
2007 a milestone was attained in demographic history. The world became officially ‘urban’ – 50 percent of the global population was classified as living in urban areas. This is significant in two ways:
- Firstly the speed at which urbanization has become the norm of living globally. The first cities in human history were only formed some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago and the first urban country, Britain, was a recent phenomenon in 1900.
- Secondly, the global population is expanding rapidly and this means a significant demographic shift. In 2011, the global population hit 7 billion, so over 3.5 billion people are now living in urban areas.
The Asia Perspective:
By 2050, Asia is likely to have over 60 percent of its population living in cities. Asia will also have the largest number of megacities (over 10 million people) this century. Asia’s urban growth is a major challenge for governments planning their countries’ development paths and national goals. A perennial question confronting policy makers, planners, government officials and political leaders is how to handle urban growth. Asia has some of the world’s oldest cities hence the region has a long track record of continuous urban development. Can one derive lessons from Asia’s urban past? And how shall Asia face its urban future? This conference will provide an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective to the human-environment nexus in urban living in Asia. It will focus on the challenges that confront Asian governments seeking to sustain their urban nodes as creative assets rather than demographic liabilities.”
The conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective to the human environment nexus in urban living in Asia. It will focus on some of the challenges before Asian governments in sustaining their urban nodes as creative assets rather than demographic liabilities. These include water sustainability; food security; addressing ‘brown’ issues (pollution control, waste management, industrial ecology), renewable energy; quality of living (housing, transport and urban infrastructure); preserving biodiversity; and provisions of adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change impacts. There has been a wide range of environmental policy and other state interventions to address these urban ‘problems’, including carbon taxes, polluter pay schemes, economic incentives, laws and their enforcement, and public environmental education. There have also been grounded and applied concepts of environmental cities and a critical evaluation can be made of their ability and effectiveness to solve current urban challenges in Asian contexts. This conference will offer the opportunity for existing policies, theories and plans on the management of the urban environment to be evaluated, and proposals for the future examined.
The MEM is a multi-disciplinary integrated programme, which provides education in environmental management to senior and mid-level managers and officers in corporations, institutions and government, and non-governmental organizations. The programme equips graduates with the necessary knowledge to properly manage the environment and to deal with the challenges of an environmentally conscious society and international market. It enables them to assume responsible and influential roles to make sound decisions that support sustainable development. The programme is jointly offered by seven faculties and schools in the NUS, demonstrating its broad-based approach to education in the field of the environment. These are: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Faculty of Engineering; Faculty of Law; Faculty of Science; NUS Business School; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; and School of Design and Environment (host faculty). The programme has links with Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.
The main component of the MEM programme is a group of seven Core Modules: Business and Environment; Environmental Economics and Public Policy; Environmental Law; Environmental Management and Assessment; Environmental Planning; Environmental Science; and Environmental Technology. Candidates must also complete either: (i) a Dissertation; or (ii) a Study Report and an Elective Module. The third component of the MEM programme is the Seminar Series. Candidates must attend a minimum of ten specially arranged seminars, and complete a report on the series.
The MEM programme can be undertaken either Full-Time or Part-Time. Full-time students can complete the programme in one academic year; and Part-time students can complete it in two academic years. The students of the MEM programme come from a variety of disciplines and from both the public and private sectors. They include architects, engineers, scientists, veterinary surgeons, lawyers, teachers, health workers, journalists, and forest and park managers. About half of each year’s cohorts are Singaporeans, permanent residents or foreigners working in Singapore, while the rest are from abroad. The countries include: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.
To register for the Conference, please click here.
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Posted by Bharathi Shiva
on Nov 24 2011. Filed under Climate Change, Green Cities, Green Meetings.
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