International Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development

EESD2004
D. Ferrer-Balas, K. F. Mulder, J. Bruno and R. Sans (Eds.)
© CIMNE and UPC Barcelona, 2004

Education for Sustainable Development in Higher Education: TIET’s

Experience
Akepati S. Reddy1 and Daljit S. Bawa2
1
Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology
Patiala (PUNJAB) – 147 004, INDIA
Email: siva19899@yahoo.com
2
School of Management
Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology
Patiala (PUNJAB) – 147 004, INDIA
Email: dsbawa@mail.tiet.ac.in

Key words: Education for sustainable development, ESD, Environmental education, Higher
education, Central sphere of education model, Environment and sustainability

Abstract. With the objective of educating about the Central Sphere of True Education Model
(a model wherein true education is represented by a central sphere with many branched
radial arms extending outwards - former dealing with human being, environment and
sustainability, and the latter with specializations and super-specializations) Environment and
Sustainability course was introduced in Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology
(TIET) during 2000-01 academic year. Recently University Grants Commission (UGC) of
Government of India has advised all the Indian universities and colleges to introduce an
Environmental Studies course. In the light of this, and also as part of the routine curriculum
review and revision exercise, TIET has started review and revision of the Environment and
Sustainability course.
In this paper the authors, who are associated with the offering of the course (one as the
course instructor and the other as the Dean of Academic Affairs), as a part of this review and
revision exercise, have described salient features of both the Environment and Sustainability
course offered at TIET and the Environmental Studies course proposed by the UGC. Further,
this paper critically reviews both the courses in the light of the experiences with the
Environment and Sustainability course at TIET and of the requirements of Education for
Sustainable Development. The paper also includes details on the revised Environment and
Sustainability course proposed by the authors for offering at TIET.
 A. Reddy and D. Bawa

INTRODUCTION
Environmental protection and sustainable development demands establishment of
environmentally conscious human settlements, and proper development and sensible use of
human and technological resources. Education, which is mother to both technological and
human resources and which is vital for establishing environmentally conscious human
societies, can play a key role in the environmental protection and sustainable development.
However, today’s education is not in a position to play this role.
Education can be represented by a model comprising of a central sphere with many
branched radial arms extending outwards (Reddy, 2003). The central sphere here represents
basic knowledge (about nature and natural processes, about integrity within the environment
and about human beings place in the environment), and forms common and integrating
foundation for all specializations and super-specializations (represented in this model by
branched radial arms). In other words this central sphere represents Environmental Education
and Education for Sustainable Development. But, today’s education is busy with transmitting
knowledge pertinent to the radial arms, without bothering about the central sphere. People
with this type of education are suffering from lack holistic outlook, and interpreting the world
in a way similar to the five blind men interpreting an elephant through their sense of touch.
While human strivings require application of knowledge from various branches in a balanced
manner, education provides knowledge related only to one branch. This is making human
actions damaging to the environment and unsustainable. In essence, today’s education,
instead of being human being’s greatest resource, is proving destructive to human race.
Sustainability demands environmentally conscious action at the very individual level and
hence every individual should be educated about this central sphere. This probably requires
total revamping of school education curriculum and structuring it around the central sphere.
Specialized know-how may be imparted as higher education.
Because of having a much larger sphere of influence of thoughts, decisions and actions,
contribution by people with higher education to the problems of pollution and resource
scarcity and to the present unsustainable development is many times more than that by the
masses. Hence, there is an urgent need to make these people conscious of the Central Sphere.
With this ideological backing, in the year 2000-2001, Thapar Institute of Engineering and
Technology (TIET) started Environment and Sustainability at the 2nd year level as a core
classroom course just as the other professional courses. TIET is not satisfied with the course
because the objectives were not sufficiently met. Hence, review the course was planned
during 2003. In the mean time University Grants Commission (UGC) of Government of India
has advised all the Indian universities and colleges to introduce environmental education and
proposed syllabus for the proposed Environmental Studies course. This has hastened the
process of review and revision. This paper describes TIET’s experiences with the
Environment and Sustainability course and its failures and successes in achieving the
objectives. It also analyses the course proposed by UGC and proposes revised content and
curriculum for the Environment and Sustainability course.

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SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COURSE

OFFERED AT TIET
Environment and Sustainability is an awareness course offered at the second year level to
all the undergraduate engineering students. Objectives behind offering this course are
• Making all graduating students aware of the Central Sphere of the True Education Model
(Reddy, 2003)
• Ensuring that the students know how they as individuals and as a social group affect or
contribute to environmental degradation/protection and unsustainability/ sustainability
Contents of the Environment and Sustainability course are shown in figure-1. The course
is delivered through lectures over one semester. The lectures are being delivered in the form
of power point presentations and black board has been the other teaching aid used.
Students registered for the course are evaluated on the basis of assessment of their
awareness and understanding of the subject through three in-semester objective (multiple
choice) tests each covering 1/3rd of the total syllabus and through one end-semester written
examination of three hours duration. Weightage given for the end-semester examination is
40%. Relative grading system is used for grading students while following the guidelines
given in table-1.

Range of marks Grade awarded

≥ (CAM + 1.2 PSD)* A
≥ (CAM + 0.4 PSD) to < (CAM + 1.2 PSD) B
≥ (CAM - 0.4 PSD) to < (CAM + 0.4 PSD) C
≥ (CAM – 1.2 PSD) to < (CAM – 0.4 PSD) D
≥ (CAM + 0.4 PSD) to < (CAM + 1.2 PSD) E
* CAM is Class Average Mark and PSD is Population Standard Deviation
Table 1: Guidelines for grading the students

The course is offered as a non-credit course. Student registered for the course should earn
at least a pass grade (D grade in the possible A to E range of grades). If not, he will be
registering for the course for earning at least the pass grade. Grade earned by the student is
indicated in the student’s grade sheets, but the grade is not counted in calculating the
student’s cumulative grade point average (CGPA).
The course contents were covered during the first year of offering in 51 lectures. But now
the course is covered in 36 lectures. Being an awareness course, tutorials, practicals, field
visits and assignments are not included in the curriculum. A student registered for the course
is supposed to attend at least 75% of the lectures delivered. Otherwise he will register again
for the course in the next or subsequent semesters.

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TIET’S EXPERIENCE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

COURSE
The problems that haunted the most in offering the Environment and Sustainability course
have been
Non-availability of trained instructors who understand and appreciate the Central Sphere
and cover the course in a balanced manner while ensuring understanding of the subject by
students from different branches of engineering
Non-availability of course material – the power point presentations developed and made
available to students have been found inadequate
TIET has not separately measured its success in achieving objectives of the Environment
and Sustainability course. However, when the evaluation done for grading the students is
taken as measure, we find that the course has not been very successful. For example, in a
recently concluded semester, where 192 students were registered for the course, the range of
marks obtained and grades awarded are shown in table-2.

Range of marks Grade

≥ 47 A
≥39 to <47 B
≥31 to <39 C
≥23 to <31 D
<23 E
Table 2: Range of marks obtained and grades awarded

When 5 students, who have not registered for and external to the course, were evaluated
with the three in-semester objective papers, their performance has been found almost similar
to the average performance of the registered students (their marks have been in the range of
31 to 35%). This indicates that the difference between registered and not registered students
is not been very significant.
Instructors for the course feel that the involvement of students in the course has not been
very satisfactory. Most of them have attended the lectures for satisfying the mandatory 75%
attendance requirement. Very few have shown attention and interest in the course. Many have
been unconcerned about what is going on in the lectures and rarely involved in discussions.
Very few have shown interest to collect the lecture notes (in the form of power point
presentations), which was made available to students on demand. The few who showed
interest have done so just before the end-semester examinations may be for examinations
purpose.
Many students have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the course. They feel that
the course is an add-on to the already burdened curriculum and overloading the students, and
because of this type of courses their professional courses are suffering. TIET offers the
following four other non-credit courses
• Technology Management
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Moral Values and Professional Ethics

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• Entrepreneurship Development
TIET’s experience, in the authors’ opinion, has not been that satisfactory even with these
non-credit courses.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROPOSED BY

UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION
University Grants Commission (UGC) of India recognizes sustainable development as a
key feature to the future of mankind. It believes that no citizen can afford to be ignorant of
the environmental issues. According to it, he should have clear understanding of the
environmental concerns and follow sustainable development practices.
Respecting the directions of Honorable Supreme Court of India, UGC has proposed a 6-
month compulsory core module course in environmental studies for all branches of higher
education in all the universities and colleges of India.
UGC has appointed an Expert Committee for framing syllabus and suggesting teaching
methodologies for the course. In June 2003, UGC has posted the syllabus and the teaching
methods proposed by the Expert Committee to all the universities and colleges and directed
them to start offering the course from the second semester of 2003-04 academic year. Further,
UGC has also promised to provide course material. For facilitating implementation, UGC has
also advised the universities and colleges, if needed, to draw expertise from outside resource
persons.
Syllabus to be covered in the course is shown in figure-2. The course has 50 hours of
contact period (45 hours for classroom teaching and 5 lecture hours equivalent fieldwork). It
includes eight units of study (seven units of classroom teaching, to enhance the students’
knowledge, skills and aptitude towards the environment, and one unit of fieldwork, to provide
firsthand knowledge on various local environmental aspects).
The course is supposed to have 4 credits. In the two-semester system of teaching in India,
in a semester of 18 weeks contact period, 5 to 6 courses (each of 3 to 5 credits) are offered.
Credits for a course are decided on the basis of the number of hours per week of lecturing,
tutorial work and practical work allocated. Credits for a course can typically be found by the
following formula:
⎛ lecture hours ⎞ ⎛ tutotial work ⎞ ⎛ practical work ⎞
Credits = 1.0⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 0.5⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 0.5⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ per week ⎠ ⎝ hours per week ⎠ ⎝ hours per week ⎠
Student performance evaluation is supposed to be on the basis of an examination at the end
of the semester. Question paper is supposed to include three parts and weightage of marks for
the three parts will be as indicated in table-3.

Nature of questions/examination Relative

weightage
Part-A Short answer questions 25%
Part-B Essay type questions with inbuilt choices 50%
Part-C Examination related to fieldwork 25%
Table 3: Relative weightage of marks

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EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Thinking forms base for all our decisions and actions. It can be viewed as conscious and
critical analysis of a given problem or situation or experience in the light of one’s basic set of
ideas. That is, human being uses his/her basic set of ideas as tools in the thought process,
while taking decisions and actions. If tools of a tool kit are not appropriate and not arranged
in an organized fashion, the technician, who depends on such a tool kit, will be ineffective
and inefficient. Further, his effectiveness and efficiency will also be governed by his level of
comprehension of his tools and by his ability to select appropriate tools.
In the authors’ opinion, an uneducated human being has incoherent and unrelated set of
ideas and hence his/her decisions and actions cannot be consistently wise and sustainable.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is believed to impart conscious and critical
mind and organize one’s ideas into a coherent set. It will enable a person to experience and
interpret the world as interacting and interrelated components of a unified whole. A person
exposed to ESD will be rational and wise. He/she will have the capability to consciously
interpret his/her experiences. And, his/her strivings will be relevant to both life and
sustainability.
Reddy, 2003 has proposed a model (comprising of a central sphere with many branched
radial arms extending outwards) for representing education (according to the author, true
education). Central Sphere in this model represents basic knowledge about the nature and
natural processes, and about integrity within the environment. And, it deals with the position
of human being in the nature, and with human interactions with the nature. Through creating
an orderly and coherent set of ideas, the Central Sphere is supposed to transform human
being into rational and wise and make his strivings relevant to both life and sustainability.
Each of the radial arms in this model represents a specialization and branches on the arms
represent super-specializations. The Central Sphere forms firm and appropriate foundation
for all the specializations. In the authors’ opinion, ESD deals with this Central Sphere.
Environmental problems have been mostly due to human beings’ inability to understand
the integrity and interrelatedness within the environment, and due to their false belief that
they are the masters of the environment and controlling it while remaining external to it. That
is, most of the problems have been due to our failure to see the elephant as elephant.
Environment/Nature is comparable to an elephant before many blind people, who are
trying to find answers for the questions:
• What the elephant is?
• How the elephant functions?
• What the elephant can do for them?
• What the blind people want the elephant to do for them?
• What the blind people can do to the elephant (including what they have done or they are
doing to the elephant)?
Answers to these questions require the blind to work hard to know more about the elephant
through their other senses, and proper communication among the blind to share the little they
know.
In the authors’ opinion, Environmental Education/ Education for Sustainable Development
should address the same above questions but about the environment/nature. While striving to
know the answers, both the students and teachers should not forget that they are the same

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blind people striving to know the elephant. Further, their interest in knowing the answers is to
ensure sustainability.
In one recent online discussion (discussion-2 of stage-3 of ESD: a participatory online
course organized by WWF-UK during January to April 2004) among the educators, purpose
of ESD was expressed as:
• To educate people to recognize that they are all strands in the web of creation, and that
what they do to the web they do for themselves
• To educate people for multi-dimensional awareness and for appreciating social,
environmental and economic effects of their actions in the present and into the future
• To educate people to foster a caring and compassionate attitude to all that they undertake
• To educate people to consider the needs and rights of future generations when making
decisions
• To educate people to take responsibility for the consequences of their everyday actions
• To educate people and equip them with the abilities and capabilities to decide about Dos
and Don'ts during their interaction with the environment

CRITICAL LOOK AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES COURSE

Objectives of the Environmental Studies course proposed by UGC are
Providing clear understanding of environmental concerns
Enabling students to follow sustainable development practices
But, the syllabus is almost silent about sustainability (includes ‘From Unsustainable to
Sustainable Development’ as one of the 15 elements in Unit-6).
The course proposes to equip students with capabilities to incorporate sustainability
concept into their thoughts, decisions and actions (going beyond awareness and attitudinal
changes, and initiating environmentally sound and sustainable actions!) through a fieldwork
component equivalent to 5 lecture hours. However, the fieldwork component (involving field
visits to appreciate the environmental assets and pollution problems, and field studies to
understand simple ecosystems and become aware of the local biodiversity) may prove
inadequate for the purpose.
In the authors’ opinion, the syllabus is not sufficiently balanced, and cannot educate
students about the environment as a system (composed of interrelated and integrated
components). Some of their observations in this regard are:
• Concept of sustainability, strategies for sustainable development, and discussions related
to Agenda-21, etc., have found no place in the syllabus
• Coverage of natural resources is limited to the extraction and use and to the consequences
of such extraction and use, while objectives of the course (specially the second objective)
demand students’ understanding of strategies for management of natural resources for
both environmental protection and sustainability
• Human and technological resources and their role in the sustainable development is not
included in the syllabus (authors’ believe that the patterns of development and use of
human and technological resources dramatically alter the natural resource demands of
human beings)

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• While the problem of increasing population is given due importance, consumerism and its
ill effects have not received the same importance (includes ‘Consumerism and Waste
Products’ as one of the 15 elements under Unit-6)
• The following elements, which are included in the syllabus, have very little direct
relevance to the course and its objectives:
• Types and characteristics of ecosystems
• Biogeographical classification of India and endangered and endemic species of India
• Measures for pollution control
• Disaster management
• Resettlement and rehabilitation of people
• Issues involved in the enforcement of environmental legislation
• Family welfare programs
• Human rights
• Value education
• HIV/AIDS
• Women and child welfare
• Role of information technology in environmental and human health
Environmental Studies, according to the UGC, is a compulsory course for all branches of
higher education in all the Indian universities and colleges. In the opinion of the authors,
students of some of the branches may find the course difficult to understand and appreciate.

REVISION OF ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY COURSE

Through revision, the authors wish to incorporate the following features into the
Environment and Sustainability course:
Objectives of the course should be the same as those of Environmental Studies course
The course should deal with the Central Sphere of the True Education Model
Through the course the students should be made capable to see the elephant as elephant
The course should bring about desired changes in the attitudes of students, and should
ensure that they acquire the skills, aptitudes and values that enable them to participate and
work for solutions to local, regional and global environmental issues and for sustainable
development
The course should be least scientific and least technical, and easily understandable by
students from all branches of higher education
Emphasis should be for making the course more rational, effective and interesting – for
this, development and testing of concepts should be given importance over the loading of
students with facts and figures relating to problems and concerns, and practice and
fieldwork should be emphasized.
While incorporating the features mentioned above, the authors have proposed revision of
syllabus for Environment and Sustainability course (figure-3) for consideration by TIET. As
desired by the UGC, this revised course may be offered as a 4 credits basic core course of a
semester at the second year level of the undergraduate engineering program. In line with the
norms of TIET, the course will include 3 hours of lecturing and 2 hours of practice/fieldwork

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per week for 18 weeks. Scheme of evaluation will be the same as that followed for the other
basic courses that involve practical work.
In order to change the attitudes and prepare the students to participate and work for
solutions to local, regional and global environmental issues and for sustainable development,
the following aspects may be included in the course as practice/fieldwork component:
Field visits to agricultural and industrial systems for appreciating their sustainable and
unsustainable features
Field visits to natural ecosystems for appreciating their environmental assets and
understanding their sustainability features
Workshops for understanding and evaluating human behavior as consumer and impacts
on environment and sustainability
Analysis of harvesting, transportation, housing, etc., activities from sustainability angles
Understanding the systems and programs in place for the management of TIET premises
for sustainability
Since, understanding and interpreting the concepts, introspection, and experimenting/
practicing are important for realizing the objectives, authors suggest that the course should
not be considered as an intensive classroom learning exercise.

CONCLUSIONS
Higher educational systems usually cater to individual good. In such systems, how to
successfully implement Environment and Sustainability course and ensure social pay off is a
serious question.
Training of educators and development of course material is very much needed for
ensuring that the course is offered in the desired way. Starting an online course for university
teachers very similar to the ‘ESD: a participatory online course’ being offered WWF-UK for
educators of school may prove very useful.
A functional Environmental Management System (EMS) in the institution serving the
following two objectives can immensely help in successfully offering the course:
Management of the institution’s environment
Demonstration of environmental protection and sustainable development to students
Some believe that Environmental Education is different from Education for Sustainable
Development. Such differentiation may be undesirable.

REFERENCES
Reddy, A.S. (2003), “Education as a tool for sustainable development”, paper presented at
Asian conference on Environmental Education “Environmental Education and Civil Society”,
organized by Indian Environmental Society during November 7-9, 2003, in New Delhi.

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Figure 1: Contents of the Environment and Sustainability course

Interactions between human settlements and environment: Definition of environment; Human needs;
Human interactions with the environment; Trends in human interactions with environment; and consequences of
human interactions with environment.
The physical environment: land, water, air and climate environments.
The resources and their management: Natural resources (land, water, biological, mineral and energy
resources); Technological resources; and Human resources
The conversion systems and their management: Structure, functioning and dynamics of natural ecosystems,
agricultural systems and industrial systems.
Sustainability: Concept of sustainability; Natural ecosystems and sustainability; and Agenda-21.
Natural resources and sustainability: Analysis of natural resource base management practices from the angles
of environmental protection, sustainability and compatibility (for symbolic coexistence with the natural
ecosystems and human settlements); and strategies for the sustainable management of the natural resource base.
Human vital conversion systems and sustainability: Analysis of agricultural and industrial systems from the
angles of environmental protection, sustainability and compatibility (for symbiotic coexistence with the natural
ecosystems and human settlements); and strategies for orienting agricultural and industrial systems towards
sustainability.
Human being as a consumer: Analysis of human consumption patterns (of food, clothing, housing,
transportation and communication) from the angles of environmental protection and sustainability and strategies
for changing human consumption patterns, and ensuring sustainability and environmental protection.
Human resources and technological resources for sustainability: Role of technological and human resources
in the sustainable management of the natural resource base and in the orientation of agricultural and industrial
systems towards sustainability.
Environmentally conscious human settlements: Salient features of a model environmentally conscious human
settlement: Environmentalism as the religion of mankind; Role of education in creating environmentally
conscious human settlements.

Figure 2: Contents of the Environmental Studies course proposed by the UGC

Unit 1: The Multidisciplinary nature of environmental studies: Definition, scope and importance; Need for
public awareness
Unit 2: Natural Resources (Renewable and non-renewable resources): Natural resources and associated
problems:
Forest resources: Use and over-exploitation, deforestation, case studies. Timber extraction, mining, dams
and their effects on forests and tribal people.
Water resources: Use and over-utilization of surface and ground water, floods, drought, conflicts over
water, dams-benefits and problems.
Mineral resources: Use and exploitation, environmental effects of extracting and using mineral resources,
case studies.
Food resources: World food problems, changes caused by agriculture and overgrazing, effects of modern
agriculture, fertilizer-pesticide problems, water logging, salinity, case studies.
Energy resources: Growing energy needs, renewable and non-renewable energy sources, use of alternate
energy sources, Case studies.
Land resources: Land as a resource, land degradation, man induced landslides, soil erosion and
desertification.
Role of an individual in conservation of natural resources
Equitable use of resources for sustainable lifestyles
Unit 3: Ecosystems:

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Concept of an ecosystem; Structure and function of an ecosystem; Procedures, consumers and decomposers;
Energy flow in the ecosystem; Ecological succession; Food chains, food webs and ecological pyramids.
Introduction, types, characteristic features, structure and function of the following ecosystem
a) Forest ecosystem
b) Grassland ecosystem
c) Desert ecosystem
d) Aquatic ecosystem (ponds, stream, lakes, rivers, oceans, estuaries)
Unit 4: Biodiversity and its conservation
Introduction – Definition: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity.
Biogeographical classification of India.
Value of biodiversity: consumptive use, productive use, social, ethical, aesthetic and option values.
Biodiversity at global, National and local levels.
India as a mega-diversity nation.
Hot spots of biodiversity.
Threats to biodiversity: habitat loss, poaching of wildlife, man-wildlife conflicts.
Endangered and endemic species of India.
Conservation of biodiversity: In-situ and Ex-situ conservation of biodiversity.
Unit 5: Environmental Pollution
Definition
Causes, effects and control measures of: -
a) Air pollution
b) Water pollution
c) Soil pollution
d) Marine pollution
e) Noise pollution
f) Thermal pollution
g) Nuclear hazards
Waste Management: Causes, effects and control measures of urban and solid industrial wastes.
Role of an individual in prevention of pollution.
Pollution case studies.
Disaster management: floods, earthquake, cyclone and landslides.
Unit 6: Social Issues and the Environment
From Unsustainable to Sustainable development
Urban problems related to energy
Water conservation, rain water harvesting, watershed management
Resettlement and rehabilitation of people; its problems and concerns. Case studies.
Environmental ethics: Issues and possible solutions.
Climate change, global warming, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, nuclear accidents and holocaust. Case
studies.
Wasteland reclamation.
Consumerism and waste products.
Environments protection Act.
Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
Water (Prevention and control of pollution) Act.
Wildlife Protection Act.
Forest Conservation Act.
Issues involved in enforcement of environmental legislation.
Public awareness.
Unit 7: Human Population and the Environment
Population growth, variation among nations.
Population explosion – Family Welfare Programme.
Environment and human health.
Human Rights.

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Value Education.
HIV/AIDS.
Women and Child Welfare.
Role of Information Technology in Environmental and human health.
Case studies.
Unit 8: Field work
Visit to a local area to document environmental assets – River/ Forest/ Grassland/ Hill/ Mountain.
Visit to a local polluted site – Urban/ Rural/ Industrial/ Agricultural.
Study of common plants, insects, birds.
Study of simple ecosystems-pond, river, hill slopes, etc.

Figure 3: Syllabus proposed for the revised Environment and Sustainability course

Unit-1: Human beings, environment and sustainability

Environment definition and components
Human needs, natural resources and environment
Activities associated with the use of natural resources and meeting human needs
Conversion systems, natural resources, environment and human needs
Environmental consequences of human interactions with the environment and impacts of changing
environment on human beings
Concept of sustainability and strategies for sustainable development.
Unit-2: The environment and environmental pollution problems
Land, water, air and climate environments
Local, regional and global environmental pollution problems – causes and consequences
Life supporting properties and finite waste assimilative and resource regenerative capacities of the
environment
Unit-3: Sustainability and ecosystem approach for sustainable development
Our Common Future and sustainability definition
Agenda-21 and principles for sustainable development
Natural ecosystems and sustainability (ecosystem structure and functioning; dynamics and development of
ecosystems stability and cybernetics of ecosystems; and sustainability features of natural ecosystems)
Ecosystem approach for sustainable development
Unit-4: Natural resources and their management for sustainability
Natural resources and their classification
Human resources and technological resources in the management of natural resources for sustainability
Energy resources, environment and sustainability
Water resources, environment and sustainability
Land resources, environment and sustainability
Mineral resources, environment and sustainability
Biological resources, environment and sustainability
Access to resources, equitable use of resources and resource conflicts
Unit-5: Activities and systems related to the extraction, processing and use of resources (for meeting
human needs), environment and sustainability
Human activities and conversion systems involved in the use of natural resources
Mining and mineral processing and sustainability
Harvesting and sustainability
Treatment, packaging, storage and transportation activities and sustainability
Industrial activities and sustainability
Agricultural activities and sustainability
Residential, commercial and institutional activities, environment and sustainability
Unit-6: Human being as a consumer and sustainability
Problems of numbers and of expanding and increasing human needs

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Consumerism, consumption patterns and environmental consequences

Analysis of food, clothing, housing, and transportation needs of human beings from environment and
sustainability angles.
Unit-7: Environmentally conscious human settlements
Need for action at individual and community levels
Environmental ethics and environmentalism
Environmental education
Awareness of roles, responsibilities and authorities of citizens under the environmental law and the
international agreements and protocols
Public awareness and public opinion buildup

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