Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food

In this course you will become familiar with the ideas of the water-energy-food nexus and transdisciplinary thinking. You will learn to see your community or country as a complex social-ecological system and to describe its water, energy and food metabolism in the form of a pattern, as well as to map the categories of social actors.
We will provide you with the tools to measure the nexus elements and to analyze them in a coherent way across scales and dimensions of analysis. In this way, your quantitative analysis will become useful for informed decision-making. You will be able to detect and quantify dependence on non-renewable resources and externalization of environmental problems to other societies and ecosystems (a popular ‘solution’ in the western world). Practical case studies, from both developed and developing countries, will help you evaluate the state-of-play of a given community or country and to evaluate possible solutions. Last but not least, you will learn to see pressing social-ecological issues, such as energy poverty, water scarcity and inequity, from a radically different perspective, and to question everything you’ve been told so far.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Part of the results and case studies presented have been developed within two projects: MAGIC and PARTICIPIA. However, the course does not reflect the views of the funding institutions or of the project partners as a whole, and the case studies were presented purely with an educational and illustrative purpose.

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Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Introduction
Module 1. Introducing the basic concepts
Welcome to our course on the sustainability of social-ecological systems! Before getting started, we suggest you take a couple of minutes to read the information about the course and about the platform as given below.
Week 2
Module 2. Acknowledging the poor quality of existing quantitative analyses
In this first week we will look at the nexus from a different perspective: What is the nexus? Why is it getting all this attention right now? Is it just a buzzword, or something more? We will start by explaining what the nexus means in terms of complexity and propose the basic concepts needed for a metabolic analysis of the nexus. It might take a while to get your head around these concepts, but they are essential to understand what comes next. Finally, we will give examples of “elephants in the room” in the sustainability discourse – to show you that mainstream narratives are not always right.
Week 3
Module 3. The challenge of food accounting
This week is all about narratives, framing and complexity. You will see how different narratives affect quantitative assessments, and why numbers aren’t always right. We will delve deeper into the theoretical basis of complex systems, and propose alternative ways of doing sustainability analysis, through the use of grammars.
Week 4
Module 4. The challenge of energy accounting
Having introduced the basis of metabolic analysis and complex systems, we will now focus on the different elements of the nexus, starting with food. We will start by answering some seemingly basic questions: what do we mean by food, and how can it be accounted? Which qualities of food can and cannot be accounted for in terms of numbers? Practical examples will guide you along the way, and by the end of the week you will see why the current agricultural system is unsustainable to its core.
Week 5
Module 5. The challenge of water accounting
This week we will look at energy. As we did for food, we will start by looking at the problems of energy accounting, and setting a framework to allow us to carry out energy analyses across levels and scales. You will see why energy accounting is one of the most problematic aspects of sustainability, and through the example of the Energiewende we will explore how this affects policy.
Week 6
Module 6. The metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems across multiple scales and dimensions
This week is all about water. By now you should be familiar with the concept of grammar, and we will see how building one for water can help in dealing with its many dimensions. Through the example of an analysis of the Mauritius Islands, you will become familiar with the many aspects of water accounting, and by the end of the week you will understand the importance of water in nexus analysis, especially when it comes to policymaking.
Week 7
Module 7. Applications of MuSIASEM 2.0
We talked about scales and dimensions a lot, and this week we will explore and understand these concepts better. You will learn to account for human activity, an essential fund that is often left out from quantitative analysis, and how GIS tools can be incorporated with the methods you have learnt so far. This week is heavy on theory, to prepare you for week 7 which is all about applications.
Week 8
Module 8. Time for “something completely different”: from the Cartesian dream to quantitative story-telling via evidence based policy
How can the theoretical concepts explained so far be applied to practical examples? After introducing the basic building blocks of relational analysis needed for our applications, we will look at two real case examples: a nexus analysis of vegetable production in Almeria, and of a wind-powered desalination plant in the Canary Islands. By the end of this week you should be able to build processors and set up nexus analyses.

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?

When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Who is the course for?

The course is directed toward upper-division undergraduate and graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines (environmental sciences, engineering, agricultural sciences, social sciences) as well as professionals (NGOs, think tanks) and policy makers concerned with sustainable development in both developed and developing countries.

When can I request the certificate?

You can request the certificate at any time: before, during or once you finish the course.

Which information does include the certificate?

· The course name

· The instructor's signature

· The logo of the partner institution offering the course

· A verification URL that allows others to check the Certificate's authenticity

· A statement that Coursera has confirmed the identity of the learner who completed the course

Which information does not include the certificate?

· Academic credit from the partner institution offering the course

· The final grade you got in the course

· Your ID photo

· The hours you spent working on coursework

· A printed or mailed copy of the Course Certificate.

Certificates are provided as downloadable PDF files, which you can print yourself. You can also share them electronically.

Unfortunately, Coursera cannot provide course Certificates with any more information than they already include.

Is the certificate recognized for official credits at the UAB?

No. The certificate shows that the student has passed the course, but it is not an official qualification of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Reviews

I found this course to be very interesting and a great overview of the science behind the WEF nexus.

Everybody should learn this !

It will change my way of looking at sustainability as promised by Prof. Giampietro.

THX

I am so grateful to all the teachers of this course. I am basically a social work student (miles away from science), but this was interesting and benefitting. That you very much

Wonderful course about us and the environment! If you are a data loving philosopher this will be your dream (as it was for me) :) - Would love to get more lectures from this courses' teachers!