Nicholas Institute Staff Teaching Three Courses

February 4, 2008

DURHAM, N.C. – Staff members at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions are teaching three courses for Duke University graduate and undergraduate students this semester.

Raphael Sagarin, associate director for ocean and coastal policy, is teaching “Marine Ecosystem Based Management: Hype or Hope?,” a three-unit graduate-level course.
Two recent major U.S. Commissions have recommended that ecosystem-based management (EBM) should be applied to all aspects of ocean governance, Sagarin says, yet progress in implementing it has been slow and uneven. Part of the delay stems from policymakers who perceive EBM as a vague term with little guidance on implementation. 

Through exploration of research in economics, law, and physical and life sciences, the course attempts to help students identify ways EBM can be applied successfully.

Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute, and Sheril Kirshenbaum, associate in research for ocean and coastal policy, are assisting Sagarin with the course by acting as mock Senators and Senate staff members to whom students must try to “sell” EBM-based legislation. Twenty-four Master of Environmental Management (MEM) students are enrolled.

A lesson in ecosystem services
Brian C. Murray, the Institute’s director for economic analysis, and Lydia Olander, senior associate director for ecosystem services, are teaching “Putting Ecosystem Market Services into Practice,” a graduate-level, one-unit reading group.

Ecosystem services is a relatively new concept in some environmental fields, but a number of markets have been in operation for decades, including the acid rain trading program, wetlands mitigation markets, and nutrient trading programs, say Olander and Murray, who both have published and presented widely on the topic. The ecosystems carbon market, though still voluntary, could soon grow to be the largest and most influential ecosystem service market yet, they say. 

Their course focuses on helping students gain a deeper understanding of how ecosystem service markets work, and how they could affect existing conservation and management efforts. Fifteen MEM students are enrolled.

Policymaking close to home 
Bill Holman, director of state policy at the institute, is teaching “Environmental Policymaking in North Carolina,” a three-unit course for graduate and undergraduate students offered through the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy.

The course provides students with a practical overview of environmental policymaking in the Tar Heel state. Holman, who has been a leader in North Carolina environmental policy for nearly 30 years, takes students through the policymaking process and identifies special areas of current or likely future concern, such as water management, energy and climate change, and sustainable development. Ten students are enrolled in the course.

“Extending our expertise to Duke students is a key mission of the Nicholas Institute,” says Profeta. “Educating the next generation of environmental leaders is one of many ways we help bridge the gap between science and policy.”

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