Qualification -Associate Diploma In Environmental Management

Study, Learn and Work as an Environmental Industry Professional

The course is divided into 15 subjects/modules as follows:

11 Core Modules (Each module = 100 hours)

You must successfully complete all assignments and pass exams in each of the following: 

• Introduction to Ecology               
• Conservation & Environmental Management
• Environmental Waste Management                    
• Soil Managment                            
• Botany I                                  
• Ecotour Management                
• Project Management                 
• Wildlife Management
• Environmental Assessment
• Research Project I
• Plus 100 hours industry meetings or work experience

Elective Modules

Four additional modules of your choosing (You may choose later in the course if you wish. Options other than those listed may be considered).

Modules

Note that each module in the Qualification -Associate Diploma In Environmental Management is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

There are many different greenhouse gases, but the most important ones are:

• Water vapour
• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Nitrous oxide (N2O)
• Methane (CH4)
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s)

A great part of these gases come from natural sources. For example, more than half of the nitrous oxide in the atmosphere originates from the ocean and soil; marshlands and swamps as well as grazing cattle and termites are responsible for at least one-fourth of the world’s methane emissions. Conversely, mining, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industry growth, agricultural farming and other human activities account for approximately 75% of the increase in greenhouse gases.

Due to the rise in air temperature, global warming has been known to affect the level and volume of the ocean (‘thermal expansion’). The melting of glaciers cause a rise in sea levels (approximately 25 centimetres in the last 100 years, and is expected to rise another 25 cm by the end of the year 2000), which can lead to natural disasters such as severe erosion, inland floods, disappearance of wetlands, and disturbance of beaches and coastal lifestyles. The temperatures are expected to raise approximately 3oC in the next 100 years, which may seem insignificant at first glance, but the last glaciation era ended due to this same outcome.

An overheated earth’s surface due to greenhouse effects also brings about a rise in water vapour, creating an increase on the formation of clouds. These clouds will help prevent an excess of solar radiation penetrating the earth and will play a major role in cooling down the temperature that had been caused by greenhouse gas effects, avoiding, this way, an increase towards ‘global warming’. However, to global warming variations can highly affect precipitation patterns; while in some areas there may be an excess of rainfall, in others there may be more droughts, causing formation of swamps and extinctions of plant and animal species, respectively.

Cold waters act as one of the world’s major CO2 gas reductors, however, the more the temperature tends to rise on the earth, the less effective this natural mechanism becomes. Due to this effect, the excess of CO2 tends to concentrate in the atmosphere rather than being absorbed and recycled by the ocean, creating an increase in the greenhouse effect.

Human impact through deforestation, aerosols, insecticides, gas emissions and pollution, etc, has also contributed significantly to global warming.