Master in Environmental Management

As the academic year advances and we see the lectures end, our students start their internships. This year we are overjoyed to see our students involved in challenging and exciting projects in a myriad of institutions.

Just to give you some salient examples, one of our students will navigate the international scene at the UNDP providing support to the UN Millennium Development Goals Campaign organising public participation on post 2015 consultations in Spain. A further international institution, the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), is the host institution for another of our students. His tasks will be to analyse the role of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) for climate change adaptation in agriculture and undertake mapping and modelling of the scope of using NUS for climate change adaptation. As Rio+20 is approaching and there is a need to tackle poverty and green growth head on, one of our students is currently working on the organisation of the World Green Summit, the business, finance, and government forum during Rio+20 with Green Media LTD.

Another of our students will help out an international environmental non-governmental organisation – WWF –  in the analysis of land-use changes in Doñana using satellite images. Development non-governmental organisations such as Tedeco (based at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) have long been helping the University of Ngozi in Burundi. One of the problems of this university is dealing with their electronic waste (e-waste). In order to shed light on the potential solutions to the e-waste management problem, one of our students is currently doing her internship focusing on the policies that could be implemented on-site given a resource constrained context and no previous e-waste management processes or strategies.

Other students will be involved in applied environmental research within the academic world. In this realm, one of our students is comparing European and Asian environmental regulations for one of our distinguished Professors (Joaquín Garralda) at IE; another student is analysing the evolving green economy and green growth concepts in the province of Ciudad Real (Spain) for the Complutense University in Spain. Further applied research is undertaken by another of our students in the field of water management and water governance at the Water Observatory (Botín Foundation). This student has joined a team of people working in an on-going project with Transparency International Spain that will analyse water rights and water budgetary allocations.

On a local scale, the Madrid City Council is currently preparing the 2013-2016 Plan for the Sustainable Use of Energy and Climate Change Prevention. The task of one of our students in this project is to undertake a comparative analysis of initiatives being developed worldwide in other cities to help Madrid step up the fight against climate change in its forthcoming plan. Networks of cities such as C40 or ICLEI are providing guidance on the existing initiatives. Given the economic crisis, one of the core criteria against which initiatives will be evaluated is cost efficiency, along with environmental effectiveness, equity, social acceptability and political feasibility. On the energy sector, another of our students is starting to get acquainted with the inner workings of the Health, Safety and Environment department of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). 

As you can see we have links with a wide variety of local, national and international institutions, both public and private, that will provide most valuable work experience in the blooming field of environmental management. We are looking forward to the student presentations at the end of the internship period to see how their work can help advance environmental management!

As you know yesterday we kicked off the #IEgreen Challenge Scholarships. This challenge, taking place in six world regions, is an excellent opportunity for future candidates of the master class of 2012. The challenge awards the winners with one of the 5400€ scholarships available by region applicable to the Master in Environmental Management (October 2012 intake). The key criteria for being selected as a winner is the number of tweets made during the timeline of the challenge using the hash tag #IEgreen. Additionally there is one global scholarship worth 9000€  for the best tweet made from all regions that will be selected by the students of the 2011 master class. Take note: for the global scholarship the value of the content will be important to qualify as a winner.

Here we highlight key details of the challenge:

 • Start Date: Friday April 27th, 2012 9h00 (Madrid time, GMT+1)

• End Date: Friday May 11th, 2012 9h00 (Madrid time, GMT+1)

• Mission: Tweet your reflections on environmental management (i.e. eco-innovation, green business, sustainability, green technology…). Use the hash tag #IEgreen

• Send to admissions.socialsciences@ie.edu the text of all your tweets.

• Requirement: You must have started your online application to the program by May 10th in order to be considered. Access it by clicking here.

• The Jury of the Challenge: composed by the Admissions, Financial Aid & Academic Teams of IE, as well as Students from the current 2011 Class of the master.

• Read carefully the rules of the competition by clickinghere.

We hope that everyone enjoys the mission, we look forward to following ideas from the different corners of the world!

Students of the 2011 class, thanks once more for your great support!

If you’ve ever eaten strawberries in Spain, or most of Europe, its very likely they were grown near the wetlands Doñana National Park. Wetlands are among some of the most biologically diverse and threatened ecosystems in the world. So why are the wetlands so important? They provide a necessary habitat for plants and animals that can be found nowhere else on Earth. Wetlands reduce the impact of floods, absorb pollutants and improve water quality. They provide a wide range of environmental, social and ecological services. The ecosystem services range from food provisioning services, regulation services and of certainly culturally important services like recreation and spiritual services. Scientists have long known that this wide range of services offers economic value, but governments have yet to fully understand the potential. These lands act as carbon sinks, are a crucial part of regional water cycles and yet they are quickly disappearing. In 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was released and their results showed that about 50% of all of the wetlands in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand had disappeared since 1900. There are many reasons for why wetlands are converted, but in Spain, the main reason is agriculture.

It’s been nearly two months since we started our Consulting Project Course. Since then, we’ve learned more about the situation of the two most protected wetlands in Spain: Tablas de Daimiel National Park and Doñana National Park. Both natural areas are protected by the Ramsar convention, yet they are seriously threatened by the conversion of traditional rain-fed agriculture in their surroundings into a more intensive agriculture based on irrigation (like strawberries, peppers and melons).

For a wetland to be placed on the Ramsar list, it must be recognized as a matter of national environmental significance. The wetlands on the Ramsar list provide habitats to endangered species and they are considered so valuable that the member countries are committed to maintain their ecological character. Still, despite the fact that the wetlands in Tablas de Daimiel and Doñana are on the Ramsar list, they are in danger. As much as 90% of the water from local aquifers goes towards agricultural needs and causes detrimental effects on the status of the wetlands.

In 2009, the demands of agriculture combined with a severe drought resulted in such dry land conditions that Tablas de Daimiel soil, formed by peatlands, self-combusted and caught fire. In this situation, the only possible way that the fires can be put out is by flooding the zone with water. If there is no water, the land underneath and the roots continue to burn, slowly destroying the wetland bed- whose formation needed thousands of years of organic matter accumulation and transformation under anaerobic conditions.

What our project aims to do

We were excited to take on this topic for our consulting project because we understand how important it is to help save the wetlands of Spain. There have been many studies on these two wetlands, but we wanted to take a different perspective, taking a multi-disciplinary approach to this situation and taking advantage of the different knowledge acquired throughout the master program.

Using GIS and satellite data, we will help to create information on the total area of irrigated crops that are within the boundaries of the local aquifers. With this data we are going to be able to estimate the total water consumption through irrigation for most crops and so achieve the water abstraction from the aquifers.

In Doñana region, land use transformation is also of concern. Using satellite images, we will identify plastic covered crops during different years to see if there has been an addition crops outside of what is considered the allowed “potentially irrigated areas”. Essentially, we will use the satellite images to detect new illegal crops, whose extension is seriously limiting the water contributions to the National Park. The pictures above show the drastic change in land use from 1985 and then in 2011. The areas in light blue represent plastic covered crops. Most of what grows within the plastic covered crops makes its way every Spring to grocery stores near you; strawberries from Doñana.

Plastic covered crops are shown in light blue areas (1985 on the left and 2011 on the right)

We can’t ignore the economic drivers behind the growth of agriculture. There are many farmers digging illegal wells for their crops and they are doing so because there are limited financial alternatives in the area. Areas near Tablas de Daimiel and Doñana have become primarily agricultural sites, growing produce for Spain and Europe.

Part of our project will include identifying possible economic alternatives for both regions. We will highlight the possible benefits of developing the agro-tourism sector and touch on local opportunities for renewable energies. These two options would help the community to diversify the current agriculture-based economy and reduce the pressure on the two regions in terms of water abstraction. In addition, we are working on the creation of a list of indicators that could be applied to Castilla-La Mancha, and Andalucia (the regions where both wetlands are located), to measure movement away from the current system of aquifer mismanagement, towards green growth and development.

We want to provide different perspective on this important issue and raise awareness on these unique environments.  If policies are not enforced, we could see Doñana become the next Tablas de Daimiel. We hope that by looking at various elements, we can provide relevant information for wetlands around the world and maybe, even help people understand that what is on their plate has a direct impact on environments around the world.

Below an updated overview of the complex and dynamic renewable energy market by one of our professors Carlos García Suárez.

Change is in the nature of things. All life is change even if we sometimes get the illusion that we can enjoy some “peace” and “rest” for a while.
In the renewable energy market things are changing at a very fast pace. Yet, we might still get the illusion that things are just “fine”. For example, the global renewable energy market in 2011 has been estimated to be $ 263 billion, a record figure indeed. And this has happened in a year where the financial crisis is clearly felt, an aspect that severely impacts the renewable energy sector, because renewable energy facilities, as are most energy facilities, require a large upfront capital investment that is recovered during decades of operation.
Yet, behind these numbers things are rearranging themselves and change is happening. What are the most significant aspects of these changes? They are technology aspects, financial aspects, regulatory aspects and market aspects. These are just 3 of the most important ones:
1) SUBSIDIES TO GO AWAY: We are approaching the area where renewable energy will have to survive and grow without subsidies. Europe has been the largest market for all sorts of renewable energy technologies. This growth had been based on reasonable comfortable incentive schemes, such as the super-famous Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme for electricity projects. These subsidies are going away: Spain, Italy, Germany; these have been the large drivers for the European renewable energy growth and all they are taking away or dramatically reducing subsidies. There are several reasons that explain this behavior. First, there has been so much growth in wind and solar energy in these and other European countries that governments are starting to have a hard time digesting the “apparent” extra cost of this green electricity. I say “apparent” because unfortunately most cost calculations in the energy sector do not take into account environmental and social externalities, whether positive or negative. For example, the computed cost of electricity does not take into account whether local jobs are being created or simply the money is going away to buy imported oil. Yet, despite these considerations, the perception of part of the public and policy makers is that it is the time to take away subsidies. This perspective is clearly incentivized, using non market mechanism (such as lobby and media management) by incumbent market actors, which have seen the wave of green energy grow too much too quickly and become a challenge to keep on selling their traditionally generated energy. In addition, some policy makers are under the impression, and in part they are right, that the cost of renewables tends to adapt to the value of the FiTs, and that somehow the market will adjust to survive in an environment with lower incentives. In fact, some of the new markets have no or small subsidies yet projects start to surface anyway.
2) TECHNOLOGY SHIFT: In some sectors of the renewable energy market (especially solar and bio-energy), a variety of technologies compete to survive. Technologies can be seen as species competing to survive in a dynamic ecosystem. Some of these species, i.e. technologies will simply die. Just five years ago, for example, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a technology that uses solar generated heat to produce electricity was perceived as a potential killing technology for large utility scale projects. Many thoughts it would take away the much simpler Photovoltaic (PV) technology. The fact is that the opposite is just happening. The prices of PV are going down so quickly and the efficiencies of the solar panels growing in a way that it is not hard to imagine that some time in not too distant future, solar PV (in some of its possible incarnations) can deliver the least costly kWh, that is in sunny places of course. In the last two years, we have seen how several large projects originally permitted like CSP projects have been migrated to PV. This is not to say that CPS will completely disappear, but unless the supply chain structure changes dramatically its development can be severely restricted to cases where either energy storage is key or where hybridization with fuel technologies is possible. An ecosystem vision is also valid for the biomass sector, where dozens of technologies and business ideas compete to survive. Finally, not only the technologies change but also the way they are deployed is changing. In the past, the focus has been large utility scale projects, but new business models will appear around the concept of distributed generation. In reality both approaches will co-exists, with some countries still doing large projects but also moving to smaller distributed systems.
3) GEOGRAPHICAL SHIFT. Europe will no longer be the leading character in this play, except for offshore wind. The center of gravity moved to the US, but is moving further East. As in other fields, China has become the leading actor, and India trails behind. Until now, we used to think of China as a way for cheap manufacturing. Now some of the leading brands in both solar and wind technology are native Chinese brands. Not only that, the Chinese market for renewables is bound to become the number 1 market. That’s already the case in wind. But the change is more profound, news are starting to surface that Vestas could be considered as a potential acquisitions but either Goldwing or Sinovel, two Chinese wind manufacturers that until recently were second tier players. The center of gravity is moving to Asia, but other new, completely untapped markets might surface. Latin America, despite many difficulties, will start to collect projects: Brazil, Chile and Mexico are first, but other will follow.
In essence, things change, and that’s good. It makes life more interesting.
Carlos García Suárez

A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege of having Lieutenant Colonel Angel Gomez as a guest speaker to discuss climate change as a security risk. Colonel Gomez is an analyst at the Ministry of Defense of Spain and an expert in climate change and national security.

In recent years, governments have started to view climate change as a challenge to their development and security. As the climate is altered, it will affect coastlines, the land suitable for growing crops and water supplies. Colonel Gomez explained that although “climate change” itself might not be seen as threat to all countries, “change” is a threat as it is change that causes conflict. Experts in security see climate as a “threat multiplier” because if there is already instability in a certain region, a change in the climate will intensify the existing tensions in that area. As Colonel Gomez stated,

“The problem with climate change, is not what we know. It is what we still don’t know.”

In the last 2 years, news headlines told us about the countless boats filled with Tunisian refugees fleeing to Italian island of Lampedusa, causing large conflicts within the island. These conflicts arose from an estimated 20,000 people trying to enter into Europe. When we compare that number with what could happen as a result of climate change, 20,000 seems quite small. What will happen when countries like Bangladesh, which are most vulnerable to sea level rise, start feeling the effects of climate change? It is estimated that about 10% of the land in Bangladesh will be affected by rising sea levels, displacing as many as 15 million people. Where will millions of displaced people go? How can we prepare for the mass migrations of individuals fleeing climate change and how can we help accommodate them?

When looking at climate change, one can’t help but consider the implications on water. Much of the freshwater supplies come from ice formations in mountains and from glaciers. With each year, we are seeing that these formations are shrinking, meaning less available freshwater. Less freshwater will bring water insecurity and greater food insecurity. Many countries may find themselves scrambling to find adequate water supplies for their residents and to grow crops for the increasing population. As temperatures rise, areas previously covered by ice are now being closely monitored and guarded by neighboring countries. The Arctic is now a highly contested area as it holds new shipping routes and valuable resources.

This discussion really helped to tie together all of our course topics, from climate change to water and food resources and especially policy. Interestingly enough, one of the main messages that came up during Colonel Gomez’s presentation was one that we have heard often in regards to the global economic situation; that we will have to learn to do more with less and adapt to our ever-changing world.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, there is a free book available online provided by the German Advisory Council on Global Change.

We belong to a generation that has been forced to learn quickly about the economy. It has become an issue that has more and more of an influence on our daily lives. Many of our conversations are now focused on the difficult economic situation, and of course, it is common that people try and find someone to blame about their current problems, to find someone guilty.

Most analysts agree that our economic system has been in serious danger due to the general acceptance of practices and behaviours which go against the common sense and most of the values our parents taught us. The search for short-term benefits has taken precedence over more integrated or committed approaches. As a result, a global trend has developed in which we chose as a society to privatise benefits, but share potential consequences.

The closer you look into the origins of current economical crisis, the more similarities you’ll find with the causes of the current environmental crisis. However, there is not that much awareness for the latter, despite that it is directly influencing our daily lives. One of our recent blog posts featured a TED Talk by Jason Clay from the WWF. In the TED talk, he gives his opinion of similar issues and how the closely the economy and the environment are tied. More importantly however, he discusses how the WWF is helping to identify solutions that are within our reach.

The facts are evident: rise in population, together with the increase of natural resources consumption per person, are the main driving forces that are leading us towards a very dangerous situation. The global increase in the demand for energy, materials and land will hardly be absorbed by technological improvements that favour productivity and efficiency in the production processes.

The scientific community has confirmed our entrance into the “Anthropocene”, based on robust data that shows a fast pace of biodiversity loss and global warming. History has taught us that usually, the people who lived in times when huge changes were produced were not truly aware of future importance of events in which they were living. Global environmental change is already occurring, and it is our obligation to respond quickly with a course of action.

Finding solutions to our environmental problems will be a challenge that demands leadership and vision at different scales. We will need cooperation on a global level including governments, International organisations, professionals and local communities. In the near future, we will need to consider criteria related to environment conservation for economics decisions. The economy cannot continue to be regarded separately from concepts like ecosystem services, wise-use or sustainable development and the demand for valuable environmental consulting studies should increase in the incoming years.

This is our starting point for our Consulting Project course, where we intend to apply the knowledge acquired in different courses throughout the Master to real-life context. The class will work as a single unit, conducting different quantitative and qualitative studies, to produce information and recommendations that can prove valuable to the improvement of sustainability in two case study areas of wetlands in Spain: Tablas de Daimiel National Park and Doñana Marshlands National Park. The project will address specific requirements coming from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is collaborating with this course. This past Friday we held our kick-off meeting,  marking the end of the design phase and the starting point for the implementation of the specific studies. This project will be our first attempt as a team to combine what we have learned and try to help find solutions that make for more sustainable wetlands within Spain.

Posted by the 2012 Consulting Project team

“Our goal is to figure out how to produce more with less land, less water and less pollution so we won’t be the only species left living on this planet”.

-Jason Clay

This is one of my favorite TED talks. It features WWF’s Jason Clay discussing their plan to help save biodiversity by reaching out to some the largest brands in the world. Clay argues that educating consumers is not enough and that going directly to some of the largest buyers in the world (the big brands) is a more efficient way to help protect biodiversity. The link is listed in text below, hope you enjoy it!

Jason Clay: How big brands can save biodiversity

The wetlands of Tablas de Daimiel and nearby crops

Last week, our group took a field trip to Parque Nacional de las Tablas de Daimiel, one of Spain’s national parks. Our mission was simple, to take a first-hand look at the state of the park’s wetlands. The national park is located about two hours south of Madrid in the region of La Mancha, an area known for its arid climate, manchego cheese and the famous Don Quixote. Although La Mancha has a fairly arid climate, it is home to Spain’s last remaining inland wetlands.

The wetlands were once fed by the nearby Guadiana River and groundwater discharges, but the growing demand for water from nearby agriculture has drastically affected the water supply. In 2009, after several years of droughts, water levels were so low that the wetlands began to dry out and smoke began to rise in some areas. Scientists found that the mud (also called peat) had begun to self-combust and was burning below ground, resulting in smoke arising from cracks in the mud. The only way the fires can be put out is by flooding the area with water. Fortunately, 2010 proved to be a very rainy year, the wetlands were once again flooded and water levels began to be restored. Yet, unless water use decreases, the problem of over exploitation of water will remain.

One the way to the Tablas de Daimiel, it is easy to see how important agriculture has become to this region. Although olives and grapes have long been grown here, more water-intensive crops like peppers and melons have become standard in the region. There are crops everywhere, right up to the edges of the national park. The resulting image is an ironic reminder of the conflict for water between nature and man. In the weeks to come, we will take a closer look at the situation as we hope to find a way to find balance between the water needs of a booming industry and the surrounding environment.

The Environment Outlook is an ongoing series of 20 minute virtual chats with leading experts over the latest developments related to environmental management. These chats are for professionals from diverse fields that pursue high-impact careers to transform the way business, economy, policy & science interacts with the environment.

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to have among us Raúl Alfaro Pelico, Regional Technical Advisor – United Nations Development Program. Rául talked about Developing Island States (located in Africa, the Indian & Pacific Ocean & the Caribbean Sea) and their relation to environmental challenges. The dependence on fossil fuels is a common challenge among different island regions. International investments in projects such as the SIDS DOCK are transforming that challenge into an opportunity for clean energy development. For those of you who missed it, here you can access the recorded version of the session:

http://meet.ie.edu/p30723973/

We thank once more Raúl Alfaro & look forward to staying connected to the UNDP on future Environment Outlooks.

Air quality around the world is an ongoing health and environmental problem. Recent data on air pollution in China or in the EU, among other regions, underlines the importance of alternative transport modes, energy saving initiatives and  fostering higher energy efficiency. An article published a couple of days ago by the European Environmental Agency provides data on the poor performance of some EU countries on air pollution. Spain has some serious catching up to do! If you are interested in this issue there is more information as well as a table comparing EU countries performance in the following link: http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/air-pollutant-emission-limits-exceeded?&utm_campaign=air-pollutant-emission-limits-exceeded&utm_medium=email&utm_source=EEASubscriptions