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09:26

Introduction: The Oceans and Sustainable Development

The global ocean connects us all and provides our livelihoods, the oxygen we breathe, and transportation, among other things. The ocean is included in SDG 14. This course will try to provide a deeper understanding of the complex understanding of the ocean, environment, and climate system. Humans receive resources from the ocean, as well as risks. There will be weekly lectures on different topics, including the basic physics of ocean circulation, the ocean ecosystem, how the deep ocean works,…

08:44

Our Ocean: A Finite Resource

The ocean has always sparked human curiosity. In the mid-20th century, people began to realize that there are limits to what humanity should do to our planet before it cannot support life as we know it, limits known as the planetary boundaries. The human population of the planet has reached 7 billion people and will soon approach 11 billion people. We rely on the earth to support us with ecosystem services; the ocean provides these services by regulating the climate system. The oceans have a…

01:03:07

Introduction to Corporate Responsibilities for Sustainable Development

In the first session of his series on Corporate Responsibilities for Sustainable Development, Prof. Leisinger examines the context for corporate responsibility in the age of sustainable development, the fair division of responsibility for societal transformation, and the role of business in creating a better world. This webinar was recorded on May 5, 2026. Prof. Leisinger has made his 2021 book Integrity in Business and Society: Idealism Without Illusions and his 2018 lecture on…

11:09

Disasters and Public Health

Disasters of various kinds, including hurricanes, monsoons, earthquakes, and landslides, poses a public health emergency. In this video, Professor K. Srinath Reddy addresses how these disasters affect health and how global public health can prepare for these emergencies, especially with the impending increase of natural disasters with the rise of climate change. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

12:24

Introducing Sustainable Development

In this chapter, Professor Jeffrey Sachs introduces the course "Sustainable Development: the Post-Capitalist Order" and defines sustainable development. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license. Please give attribution to the SDG Academy.

10:48

Existing Structures of Global Governance

This chapter is about global governance and structures to deal with complex global environmental problems. Governance is a set of complex interactions between state and non-state actors at the global level.There are several key trends to look at in global environmental governance, including the increase in international environmental agreements and the involvement of more actors. These have led to fragmentation, segmentation, and decoupled decision making, as well as increasing inter-linkages…

19:44

Subsidiarity (Local Power, Participation, and Community)

This chapter looks at the differences between global capitalism and sustainable development in the realms of political jurisdictions and intergovernmental relations between different nations and cities. This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

15:37

Aggregate Demand with Flexible Exchange Rate

In this chapter, Professor Sachs discusses international trade and how it is affected by the exchange rate, which is in turn affected by financial flows and the differences of interest rates at home and abroad. There are two ways to manage the exchange rates of a country, namely by supply and demand, or by the central bank setting the price. This is explained using the case of exchange rate of Renminbi to the US dollar, as managed by the People’s Bank of China. Countries have the right…

07:33

The Challenge of Urban Politics, Planning and Governance, Part II

Urban politics comes down to making decisions with short, medium, and long-term impacts in a context of scarce resources between competing priorities, making planning very important. Types of planning include spatial planning, strategic planning or growth management planning, spatial literacy planning, precinct-level planning, and other intersectional types of planning. This is considered through the case study of the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. Watch Part I This video is licensed…