Purposes of Department of International Environmental and Agricultural Science

Department of International Environmental and Agricultural Science (IEAS) provides a multi-disciplinary master's course designed to train students and researchers to be at the forefront in the development of the limited natural resources while maintaining the environment.

In recent years, intense human activities such as rapid industrialization and overexploitation of natural resources have been causing severe global environmental problems. These problems include environmental pollution, global climate change, acid rainfall, desertification, degradation of tropical forests, soil erosion, water pollution, and environmental hormones. In addition, the exponential population growth coupled with global food shortages is the most pressing issue that demands utmost attention.

To tackle these problems, a holistic approach to sustainable development is indispensable. It is essential to develop appropriate policies for maximizing food production, to improve the quality of human life, while avoiding the depletion and degradation of the limited natural resources around us, and maintaining an ecological balance.

Lately, there is an increasing global awareness of environmentally friendly methods of food production. We recognizes that the success of such methods depends on the integration of concepts and technologies from diverse disciplines, and that only a multi-disciplinary approach can ensure such sustainable development.

This course aims at optimization of food production, conservation of the environment, and the restoration and purification of degraded resources. We emphasize on integrating the technical merits of the various disciplines to develop holistic methods of resource development. Ecologically, culturally, and socially effective strategies developed in these studies will then be applied to actual rural problems through international technology transfer.

This course also aims at training engineers and scientists who have broader international view of "Environmental and Agricultural Science" and wider knowledge in several disciplines such as sociology, ecology, agronomy, and engineering. Today environmental policy is an important subject to the environmental and agricultural technologies of our interest. We also focus on the policy-related studies in the fields of human, social and economic sciences with regards to the technological functions.