International Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP)
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Master's projects by students in the Duke Kunshan International Master of Environmental Policy program.
The masters project is done in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the professional Internaional Master of Environmental Policy degree. While the MP may include original laboratory or field research, it may also take the form of management plans, handbooks, educational curricula, or other such products. Each student is advised by a faculty member who reviews and approves the project prior to completion.
A masters projects that is original research should not be as large as a masters thesis although it should be of publishable quality but not necessarily comprehensive enough to stand alone as a publication. A masters projects that does not follow the usual format for scientific research should follow a framework that is considered good practice in an appropriate field.
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Browsing International Master of Environmental Policy (iMEP) by Subject "Climate change"
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Item Open Access A HIPPIE CLIMATE, A RIGID SYSTEM. CLIMATE ADAPTATION TO RIVERINE FLOODS AND WATERLOGGING AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN COLOMBIA(2024-04-26) Diaz Ramos , Jose LuisClimate change intensifies extreme events, posing risks to ecosystems and human populations. In the near-term in a 1.5°C global warming scenario, more intense and frequent extreme rainfalls are expected, which is associated with flooding. Colombia is a highly vulnerable country to extreme weather, particularly flood risks. While the country has made progress identifying its climate vulnerabilities, and adopting policies to address them, the implementation of actions at the local level requires further assessment. This Master Project seeks to understand if actions and institutional arrangements for flood risk adaptation at the local level in Colombia are commensurate with the challenges of climate change. To answer this question, Chía, one of the most densely populated municipalities in the country that has suffered from flood impacts in the past, is used as a case study. Review of current literature and regulations, interviews to key stakeholders, and petitions to obtain information on government actions were used for the analysis, as well as estimations using geographic information systems. From the analysis, it was found that current frameworks and literature analyzing flood risks focus on riverine floods and neglect other sources of floods, such as waterlogging, despite them being a significant hazard especially under climate change. Therefore, this brief presents a framework for local governments to analyze their current actions (if any) related to flood and waterlogging management, in order to identify gaps and overlaps that need to be addressed. The framework has ten components, including the following: area and climate change context, stakeholder analysis, regulatory analysis, current actions description and analysis, gaps description, problem definition, design of the alternatives, prioritization of alternatives, and monitoring and assessment actions. Applying this framework to the case study, it was found that the municipality of Chía has reduced its flood risk as during the last decade dikes have been built along the river; however, it is estimated that 1,866 (0.9%) people in 2022 were living in areas of high flood risk. In addition, more than 80% of the population has a medium threat of riverine floods, which is concerning as even though total yearly precipitation is not expected to change considerably, precipitation is expected to increase in short periods of time (1 and 5 days), representing a threat to a municipality that has been highly urbanized. The analysis of the actions deployed to tackle these risks reveals that they are fragmented both between the regional and local level, and within the local administration. Flood and waterlogging risks management face different challenges due to lack of information (outdated and limited public access to data), policy (lack of integrated plan with low consideration of climate change), administrative coordination (lack of clear responsibilities lead to overreliance on actors and actions), accountability (fragmented environmental management structure) and capacity (lack of specific expertise). Flood and waterlogging actions need to be built upon existing initiatives. For flood management the most critical action is to guarantee the long-term quality of the dikes that were built by improving, among others, a better joint work between regional and local levels, as well as with the community. For waterlogging risks, it requires a better involvement of the local Environment Secretary to incorporate climate adaptation actions, fostering transversality and avoiding duplication. Infrastructure investments should focus on improving sustainable drainage systems, permeable surfaces and green spaces due to the complexity of increasing drainage systems. Even though this policy brief considers a specific case study, it helps to identify barriers that municipal governments in Colombia are having to tackle climate change effects of floods and waterlogging.Item Open Access Impacts of Governors’ Early-life Heatwave Experiences on Local Environmental Performance(2023-04-28) Li, JiahuanAs a main outcome of climate change, heatwave events have increasingly caused both physical and psychological trauma to human beings. This research investigates the mental influence of early-life heatwave experiences on the personalities of top managers and the subsequent impact on organizational performance. Specifically, the study examines whether public sector governors with early-life heatwave exposure promote local environmental outcomes during their tenure. Employing an ordinary least-squares (OLS) approach, the empirical analysis utilizes two unique datasets comprising the biographical experiences of 4018 municipal governors over the past 50 years and the pollution levels of 288 cities between 2000 and 2016. This study provides clear and robust evidence that early-life heatwave exposure significantly reduces jurisdictional CO2 emissions by 1.1% and PM2.5 pollution by 2.1%, despite variations in heatwave criteria. These findings supplement the top management literature and challenge the current belief of the public unawareness of climate change.Item Open Access Temperature Consideration in the Shallow Lake Model and Its Policy Implications for Eutrophication Governance(2024-04-26) Zhao, YangEutrophication is a significant environmental issue affecting shallow lakes and is closely related to human activities. The shallow lake model serves as an environmental economic model for studying this problem. In this study, we first reviewed the scientific rationale of this economic model, subsequently, analyzed the original shallow lake model proposed by Mäler et al., discussing market failure issues in static optimization based on previous research. We then introduced the factor of temperature to enable the model to consider the effects of seasonal temperature changes and long-term climate warming on eutrophication processes. We conducted an analysis of the shallow lake model incorporating temperature. Analysis of the state equation indicated that temperature variation significantly influences the internal phosphorus release in the water body, with increased temperature leading to the transition of the shallow lake to hysteresis or irreversible states. Analysis of the static optimization problem of shallow lake utility revealed that temperature increase makes it more likely for utility maximization to occur in states with high phosphorus content. Additionally, we explored the existence of emission control strategies under temperature variation scenarios. Finally, based on our study of this environmental economic model, practical policy implications were provided.