CUR /F001
MACHAKOS UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Course Outline
Semester: __Sep-Dec, 2023_________________________
Course Code: _ERC 210 (Title) Climate change and resource management Credit Hours 3
Lecturer’s Title Name: Dr. John Gichimu Mbaka
Lecturer’s Contact:
Mobile: 0739606338 Email: _john.mbaka@[Link]
Consultation Time:
COURSE PURPOSE
This course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to aspects of climate change and
resource management and potential mitigation measures.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of the course, student should be able to:
i Discuss concepts of weather and climate
ii Discuss causes of climate change and global warming
iii Identify the various legislations on climate change management
iv Describe climatic variables and importance in resource management.
Course Content
WEEK LECTURE TOPIC LECTURE DETAILED OUTLINE
1 Introduction to climate Definition of climate and weather concepts,
and weather meteorological elements which define weather,
components of a climate system
2 Microclimates, climatic To discuss the concept of microclimates, climatic
features, climatic features and various climatic classification systems –
classification thorn Waite classification system, Koppen classification
system
3 Climate and human To discuss the effects of climate on human cultures and
cultures and civilization, civilization, to discuss concept of climate change and
climate change, causes of natural causes of climate change, sources of green
climate change, house gases and their effects
greenhouse gases
4 Green house effect, To discuss the green house effect, human related causes
anthropogenic causes of of climate change
climate change
5&6 Climate change so To discuss the solutions to climate change, global ocean
lutions, global ocean circulation and wind systems, detection of climate
circulation, indicators of change and global warming, indicators of climate
climate change, models change, global climate change models and scenarios
7&8 Importance of climate To discuss the importance of climate change models,
models, impacts of impact of climate change on environment and discuss
climate change on various climate change agreements
environment, global
climate change
agreements
9 Adaptation to climate Discuss ways of adapting to climate crisis e.g., early
crisis warning systems, climate resilient infrastructure
10 & 11 Climate mitigation, Discuss the concept of carbon mitigation, carbon
12 carbon trading trading, types of carbon markets, benefits of carbon
trading
12 Case studies on climate Case studies on climate change
change
13 & 14 END OF SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS
Core Reading Materials for the Course
(a) Mary Ann Cunningham, P., William P Cunningham, P. (2014) Environmental Science; A
global Concern, McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN 9780073532547
(b) Singh, Y.K. (2006) Environmental Science, New Age International (P) Limited, ISBN
9788122418484
Recommended reference materials
(a) Linda R. Berg, Mary Catherine Hager, Hassenzahl, D.M. (2010) Visualizing
Environmental Science, Wiley, ISBN 9780470569184
(b) Michael Allaby (2002) Basics of Environmental Science, Routledge, ISBN
9780415130189
