School of the Environment-University of Toronto training

This course provides students with an understanding of environmental management. from both a global and a Canadian perspective. The course content examines the natural science, political nature, and policy approaches to the environment. Additionally, this course investigates how management strategies are utilized in a wide variety of settings, how various paradigms and sets of values affect the strategies employed and, the process of decision-making in environment management.

This course investigates urban water issues from the environmental management perspective. Course content reviews the ecosystem approach to understanding water as a resource, how science, policy, decision-making, ethics, and corporate approaches play out in the management of water in the urban setting. The international perspective explores the response of various nations, regions, and communities in the ongoing struggle for sufficient supply and quality of water in the urban setting against the need to maintain ecosystem health. Additionally, students examine water audits and Integrated Urban Water Resource Management principles (IUWRM).

This course takes a deeper look at the role of each level of government in Canada in environmental management, from the setting of specific environmental regulations and definition of environmental impact assessment procedures, to broader policy decisions with environmental consequences of their own. A range of approaches to environmental management (e.g, visioning, adaptive management, decision analysis) are explored, drawing on examples from Canada and elsewhere in the world. Also, given that even the best-laid environmental management plans may not prevent conflicts from arising between stakeholders, the course reviews dispute resolution techniques and their application to conflicts over environmental issues.

This course begins by examining the definition of risk in the context of environmental management, and compares expert and layman approaches to risk assessment. Course content looks at exposure measurement, toxicology, and epidemiology as ways to assess environmental risk in terms of effects on human health and safety. Difficulties inherent to such analyses (e.g., cumulative and synergistic effects, uncertainty) are also addressed. Students consider different approaches to risk management (prevention, mitigation, compensation) as well as the regulatory and legislative context to risk assessment and management.

This course explores the human health impacts of climate change from a number of perspectives. Students examine the ‘direct’ effects from heat waves and extreme weather events and the ‘indirect’ impacts from air pollution, infectious diseases, drought, food insecurity, and migration. Course content has a focus on two vulnerable populations, the peoples of the Canadian North and of developing countries, contrasting their challenges with those of developed countries. Other topics include research approaches, ethical issues related to climate change and health, and discussion of adaptation and public health.

This course provides an introduction to digital mapping and spatial analysis using a geographic information system. The course begins by building a foundation of fundamental concepts such as scale and map projections, critical to all future GIS analytical work. Students then learn how to create their own maps, input their own data, and how to use GIS software to analyze geographic problems and learn techniques that can be applied to environmental management, as well as to a wide variety of other subject areas.

This course builds on GEM 400 and covers advanced topics in spatial analysis and data modeling using geographic information systems for environmental management. Students learn how to interpret remotely sensed data including multispectral satellite imagery and high resolution aerial photography to map and analyze land cover patterns, such as amount of forest interior available for wildlife, and how to create and analyze three-dimensional surfaces, visualize geospatial data, and understand point patterns and spatial autocorrelation.

This course outlines the fundamentals of geographic coordinate systems and projections, content and layout topographic maps, map reading, interpretation and measurement, as well as using topographic maps as a base for thematic mapping. Aerial photographs, widely used in many environmental applications, are also discussed in detail. The course introduces different types of images, their specific features and their use for different applications.

This course introduces the student to the basics of using remote sensing data for environmental management. The first part of the course will cover the principles of remote sensing and techniques to acquire, enhance, interpret and analyze remote sensing imagery using visual and computer-based methods. The second part of the course deals with the application of remote sensing principles and data to environmental science. Topics include the use of remote sensing for environmental applications related to different studies of vegetation, soil, water, air, and land use/land cover.

This course provides students with a theoretical understanding and practical experience in GIS modeling for specific environmental applications. It introduces new environmental applications to GIS modeling techniques (in addition to GEM402) and methodology to use in combination with GIS analysis techniques for spatial modeling for environmental applications. Students have the opportunity to acquire hands-on experience in spatial modeling using the GIS package with extensions.