O Level Environmental Management

The syllabus is designed to teach learners about sustainable development in a world where the security of resources and life-sustaining systems is endangered by human impact. It is wide-ranging in scope, topical in coverage and targeted on the important skills young people need for life.

Syllabus overview:

The syllabus is designed to teach learners about sustainable development in a world where the security of resources and life-sustaining systems is endangered by human impact. It is wide-ranging in scope, topical in coverage and targeted on the important skills young people need for life.

Learners gain an understanding of how the natural system works and how people use natural resources; they then investigate the impact of human development on the environment and learn how the environment can be managed sustainably in the future, from a local as well as a global perspective.

O Level Environmental Management encourages learners to:

• draw upon disciplines such as biology, Earth science, geography, economics and demographics

• consider the interdependence of the Earth’s natural systems and how people use natural resources

• examine the impact of development on the environment considering issues such as environmental pollution and resource depletion

• explore ways in which we may change the nature of future development to make it more sustainable.

  Environmental Management is concerned not only with the impact of humans on the planet but also with the patterns of human behaviour necessary to preserve and manage the environment in a self-sustaining way. Study is linked to the areas of new thinking in environmental management, environmental economics and the quest for alternative technologies. Case studies allow candidates to obtain a local as well as a global perspective.

  Environmental Management recognises that human behaviour towards the environment is guided by the survival needs, perceptions and values of people. Underlying the syllabus there is a recognition that cultural, social and political attitudes directly influence the economy of nature. A core principle of the syllabus is that sustainability will only be achieved by changes in the ways in which people think and make decisions.

  A course in Environmental Management therefore calls upon learners to be participants in defining the future of their world.