Conservation and Environmental Management

START YOUR CAREER IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION HERE

 

ACS Student comment: I am finding it interesting and educational - it covers the primary facts and then encourages you to learn the details through the assignments and contacting numerous organisations involved in environmental issues. Jasmine Dungey, Aust - Conservation and Environmental Management course.

• Learn to manage conservation in different environments.
• Explore conservation issues and strengthen your knowledge of the environment
• Self paced 100 hr course, provides a credit toward a range of different certificates or diplomas.
• For people working in conservation or environmental areas, or anyone with a passion for sustainability.

The course reviews basic ecology and environmental problems such as pollution and land degradation before considering varying aspects of conservation such as animal, marine and vegetation.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. An Introduction To Ecology
   • Spaceship Earth
   • Conservation; Use of Resources, ecological value, economic value, genetic diversity
   • Overkill
   • Urbanisation
   • Basic Ecology
   • The Ecosystem
   • Constituents for the Ecosystem
   • Ecological Concepts
   • The Web of Life; climate, producers, consumers, decomposers The Food Web
   • Habitat and Niche
   • Humans in the Environment
   • Energy Flow
   • Imbalances
   • The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
   • Climate Change
   • El Nino
   • International Efforts to Counter Climate Change; IPCC, UNFCC, Kyoto Protocol, Copenhagen Summit, Worldwatch Institute, etc
   • Terminology
2. A Perspective On Environmental Problems
   • History of Conservation
   • Natural Resources; Renewable, Non Renewable
   • Goals of Conservation
   • History from Industrial Revolution to WWII
   • WW2 and Post War Period
   • International Conservation
   • Deforestation
   • Loss of Agricultural Land
   • Loss of Biodiversity Endagered Water Supplies
   • Exhaustion of Non Renewable Resources
   • Political and Economic Issues of Conservation
   • Environmental Damage in Free Economies
   • Pollution in Planned Economies Supply of Resources
   • Limits to Growth
3. Pollution and Industry Effects On The Environment
   • Nature and Scope of Pollution
   • Industrial Pollution
   • Types of Pollutants
   • Effects of Pollution
   • Nuclear Pollution
   • Sick Building Syndrome
   • Asbestos Fibre
   • Urbanisation
   • Energy Alternatives
   • Deforestation
   • Nuclear Energy, Hydro Power, Solar Energy, Wind, Waste Power
4. Water and Soil
   • Introduction
   • Dams
   • River Catchments
   • Wetlands
   • Water Pollution
   • Recycling
   • Desalination
   • Water Environments
   • The Hydrological Cycle; Infiltration, Rainfall, Evaporation, Effective Rainfall, etc
   • Water and Plant Growth
   • Keeping Water Clean
   • Sewerage Treatment
   • Soil; pH, texture, structure
   • Land and Soil Degradation;
   • Loss of soil fertility
   • Erosion
   • Salinity
   • Soil compaction
   • Soil acidification
   • Build up of dangerous chemicals
5. Vegetation Conservation and Management
   • Value of Trees
   • Commercial Value of Trees
   • Rainforests
   • Forest Systems and Biomass
   • Forest Conservation
   • Trees and the Environment
   • Environmental consequences of Deforestation
   • Afforestation
   • Classification of Forests
   • Desertification
   • Acid Rain
   • Environmental Weeds
   • Strategies for Preservation of Native Grasslands
6. Animal Conservation & Management
   • The Human Animal
   • Urbanisation
   • Wildlife
   • Threatened Species
   • Invasive Species
   • Wildlife Management; approaches, preservation, conservation, goals
   • Wildlife Habitats
   • Water Management for Wildlife
   • Wildlife Surveys
7. Marine Conservation and Management
   • Estuaries
   • Fisheries; stock management, assessment, biomass, stock management methods
   • Conservation of Sandy Shores
8. The Future
   • Tourism and the Environment
   • Ecotourism
   • Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD)
   • Framework for ESD

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe the nature and scope of ecology.
• Describe environmental problems and their causes.
• Develop a brief introduction to pollution and its effect on the environment and conservation.
• Discuss relationships between water and soil and their effects on conservation and the environment, and how they can be used and managed.
• Investigate the techniques of vegetation management used in a range of situations.
• Identify the methods used to monitor and manage natural animal populations and land areas for sustainable species continuance.
• Identify the methods used to monitor and manage natural marine populations for sustainable species continuance.
• Describe the role of Ecologically Sustainable Development policies in future environment management.

What You Will Do

• Describe ecological processes and associated sustainable management techniques.
• Investigate a specific environmental problem and provide possible solutions.
• Evaluate the relationship between industry and pollution.
• Discuss principles of water and soil management.
• Select a specific type of plant that is endangered or an environmental problem and submit a case study.
• Explain animal conservation strategies, including protection legislation, breeding programs and habitat conservation.
• Discuss a specific issue that applies to marine conservation.
• Develop profiles of three different conservation and/or environment lobby group organisations and procedures used in promoting their cause.

UNDERSTAND AND VALUE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES

Renewable Resources

With proper management, these resources regenerate and even increase in value and quantity. However, when misused they can be depleted or entirely lost. Renewable resources include plants, animals, soil, water, sunlight and wind.

Non-renewable Resources

Resources such as minerals, fossil and nuclear fuels. These resources are present in fixed amounts, and once they have been used, they do not regenerate.

Natural resources are not limited to the land, they include other elements of the environment, such as oceans, tidal lands, and even the air and the atmosphere.

Resources and their use are very intimately interrelated. For example, a forest contains timber, a valuable economic commodity. However, in its natural state, a forest can:

• serve as a watershed;
• stop or reduce the erosion of soil
• provide a habitat for wildlife
• provide a recreational area
• help lower regional water tables (which can help reduce the likelihood of salinity problems occurring);
• affect the local climate (e.g. some tall trees literally have their heads in the clouds – moisture condenses onto their foliage dripping to the ground, thereby increasing the amount of moisture reaching the ground).

The obvious effect of cutting a forest is to destroy the forest, but there are other, often more serious effects that can follow on from that forest destruction (e.g. loss of habitat for wildlife, erosion, etc.).

A paramount principle of conservation is that the use of any resource requires consideration of what the impact will be on other resources and the entire environment.

THE GOALS OF CONSERVATION

• Maintenance of the essential ecological processes and life support systems. This ranges from the global cycle of nitrogen, carbon-dioxide and water, to the localised regeneration of soil, the recycling of nutrients, and the cleansing of waters and the air.
• Preservation of genetic diversity.
• Assurance that the use of the ecosystems such as grazing lands and forests is sustainable.
• Use of non-renewable resources should ensure that minerals are used conservatively, and where possible recycled. In addition, mineral mining should have the least possible adverse impact on the quality of the environment and other resources.

WHY CHOOSE US?

• Reputation: well-known and respected in environmental science and management
• Industry focus: courses designed to suit industry needs and expectations
• Different focus: develop problem solving skills that make you stand out from others
• Hands on: develop practical as well as theoretical skills
• Lots of help: dedicated and knowledgeable tutors (Faculty of internationally renowned horticulturists)
• Efficient: prompt responses to your questions
• Reliable: established in 1979, independent school with a solid history
• Up to date: courses under constant review
• Resources:  huge wealth of constantly developing intellectual property
• Value: courses compare very favourably on a cost per study hour basis
• Student amenities: online student room, bookshop, ebooks, acs garden online resources.

Other courses offered:

The ACS offers a range of courses to study in Environmental Science to further your career or broaden your job opportunities. These include Nature Park Management, Ecology, Marine Science, Environmental Management and much more. See our Environmental Courses web page for details:

http://www.acs.edu.au/courses/Environmental-courses.aspx