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Natural Resources Management

By Prof. Sudip Mitra   |   IIT Guwahati
Learners enrolled: 946   |  Exam registration: 22
ABOUT THE COURSE:
This course focuses on the need of sustainable management of the Earth's depleting natural resources such as soil, water, forest, minerals and biological resources, in relation to the growth of the human population. The range of topics covered in the course will provide students with a wider perspective on many national and international natural resource management (NRM) issues. Farm based technologies and simulation modeling is an important aspect of modern day NRM. Appropriate NRM is the key to the sustainable development.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Under graduate and post graduate students, professional, practitioner in the discipline of Agriculture, Rural Technology, Rural Development, Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Science, Environmental Study, Ecology, Natural Resources Management etc.
PREREQUISITES: Bachelor Degree in any Engineering and/ or Science discipline.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT:
 Industries dealing with land restoration, biomedicine development, irrigation, forest product utilities, Agricultural technologies, Landscape management, Air management etc.
Summary
Course Status : Upcoming
Course Type : Elective
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Agricultural and Food Engineering
  • Integrated Soil and Water Management
Credit Points : 3
Level : Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date : 21 Jul 2025
End Date : 10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends : 28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 15 Aug 2025
Exam Date : 01 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.


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Course layout

Week 1:Introduction to Natural Resource Bases: Part 1  
Week 2:Introduction to Natural Resource Bases: Part 2  
Week 3:Resource Management Paradigms: Part 1  
Week 4:Resource Management Paradigms: Part 2  
Week 5:Approaches in Resource Management  
Week 6:Biodiversity and conservation of natural resources  
Week 7:Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA): Part 1  
Week 8:Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA): Part 2  
Week 9:Technologies for NRM  
Week 10:Community Based Natural Resources Management  
Week 11:Environmental Management Systems (EMS)  
Week 12:Modeling tools and ICT for NRM  

Books and references

  1. D. R. Lynch, Sustainable Natural Resource Management: For Scientists and Engineers, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  2. M.C. Dash, Concepts of Environmental Management for Sustainable Development Publisher: I K International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2013.
  3. G. Shivakoti, U. Pradhan, H. Helmi (editors), Redefining Diversity and Dynamics of Natural Resources Management in Asia, Volume 1st Edition, Sustainable Natural Resources Management in Dynamic Asia, Editors:, ISBN: 9780128054543, Elsevier, 2016.
  4. P. Rogers, K. F. Jalal, J. A. Boyd, An Introduction to Sustainable Development. Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition, ISBN-10:1844075206, 2007.

Instructor bio

Prof. Sudip Mitra

IIT Guwahati
Professor Sudip Mitra is currently the Head of the School of Agro and Rural Technology and the founding head of the Centre for Disaster Management & Research at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, Assam, India. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), 2024.
A Nehru-Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Keio University, Japan. He is a faculty member in the International Joint Masters and Ph.D. programs in Food Science and Technology for the Gifu University, Japan and IIT Guwahati. His research focuses on natural resources management, climate smart agriculture and the application of indigenous resources and technologies to improve soil quality and enhance agricultural productivity. He has guided 7 PhDs, and 13 more are currently working under his supervision. Serves as an Editorial Board member of PLOS Climate Journal. Edited three books and proceedings published by Springer and published more than 50 papers in peer reviewed journals (mostly Q1) and reports of international repute. Served as a task force member of the Ministry of Rural Development, DST- TIFAC on Climate Change and Agriculture. He conducted many Nationally and Internationally funded research projects like JICA, UNEP, GEF, World Bank, CIDA, GTZ, DST, DBT, UEF-Finland etc. He also worked as a consultant for the Inter Academy Council’s project on S & T in African Agriculture. More about Prof Mitra is available here: www.iitg.ac.in/sudipmitra

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: November 01, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team


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