A Revisiting the Natural Resources-Environment-Development Nexus: A Critical Assessment of the DEV 756 Curriculum through Sen's Development as Freedom Framework and Implications for Doctoral Independent Study

Abstract

One of the most challenging interdisciplinary areas in the field of development studies today is concerned with natural resources, environmental sustainability and socio-economic development. The world is increasingly concerned with the link between the use of nature and development, as climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, land use conflicts and the unsustainable development of infrastructure have fueled debates worldwide. To meet these emerging needs, Pokhara university's PhD program has included DEV 756 on Natural Resources, Environment and Development to provide doctoral students with both a depth of knowledge and skills in the theory and practice of how natural resource systems interact with environmental processes and development paths. The qualitative document analysis and critical curriculum review are used to critically assess the conceptual validity, theoretical underpinnings, practical utility, and current relevance of the DEV 756 course. It uses the framework of Development as Freedom (Sen, 1999) as its basis and, with the help of literature from the fields of Political Ecology, Ecological Economics, Common Pool Resource Theory, Sustainable Development Theory, Climate Justice and environmental governance, analyses each of the instructional units. The analysis shows that the curriculum has strong interdisciplinary character and includes natural resource management, environmental economics, water governance, conservation of biodiversity, renewable energy, climate change and geospatial technologies in a holistic approach to development. The course successfully moves the discourse of resource management away from the traditional focus on economic growth and includes human well-being, institutional governance and sustainability. However, some current themes are not sufficiently addressed, such as climate justice, nature-based solutions, environmental diplomacy, carbon markets, artificial intelligence applications, resilience-based development planning, ecosystem services, environmental ethics and indigenous ecological knowledge. Such omissions slightly diminish the impact of the curriculum in responding to emerging global sustainability challenges. The article also illustrates the high potential of DEV 756 to lay the strong conceptual underpinning of Independent Study (IS) for doctoral studies, thereby enhancing the capacity to conduct interdisciplinary research, analyses policy and make evidence-based decisions. It suggests that use of the latest knowledge from the international research and development literature, together with the use of new technologies and participatory governance approaches, would significantly improve the academic and policy relevance of the curriculum. In summary, DEV 756 is a theoretically solid, practically relevant Doctoral course which will be useful for the sustainability of SD education in Nepal and also provides many opportunities for future enrichment of the curriculum. This paper is based on a qualitative study of the experiences of the students of Pokhara University. This is a qualitative study and the focus of this paper is based on the experience of the students of Pokhara University.