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This paper chronicles the experience of academic staff in developing a course to enhance the critical thinking skills of environmental management undergraduates. We outline our considerations and process for course development, discuss insights from course evaluations, and reflect on the challenges encountered. We believe these perspectives will be useful for others who are developing critical thinking skills curricula, especially first year courses. Aspects of the course design which were considered particularly effective were the use of scaffolded assessment, the application of threshold concepts, and well-structured collaborative learning activities paired with quality tutors. The key learning for the authors from the evaluation of the course was that while the tools and strategies developed were very useful, interweaving these tools into year 2 and 3 courses would help students see the ongoing value of critical thinking in their work.

A bibliometric and network analysis was performed to explore global research publication trends and to investigate relevant policy recommendations in the field of sustainability of natural resources, system dynamics, and systems thinking, to solve water resources issues and enhance water resource management. Overall, 1674 academic research articles data were generated from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, from 1981 to 2019. The findings of this study revealed that system dynamics and systems thinking research has significantly increased over the last decade (from 40 to 250 articles). Countries such as the USA (20%), China (18%), the United Kingdom (5%), Canada, Iran, Australia, and India (4% each) have the most publications and strongest collaborative networks. Sterman (2000) and Forrester (1961) had the most co-cited research while Zhang X had the highest citations, respectively. Results also showed that system theory which includes systems thinking and system dynamics were the most used keywords. The Journal of Cleaner Production was found to have published the highest number of systems thinking and system dynamics related studies, perhaps due to scope relevance. Despite the exponential rise in natural resource sustainability research globally, the result of this study shows that developing countries especially in Africa have low numbers of research publications in the field. Thus, the result of this study serves as a signal for policymakers to increase attention on research publications that could enhance natural resource sustainability, particularly in less developed countries in Africa where the application of systems thinking to natural resource management is limited.

Managing water and food systems in South Africa is complex given the factors involved in sustainably managing the sector. To ensure sustainable management of water and agricultural systems, equal access to natural resources, and economic equality, the government has implemented policies to regulate the systems and ensure economic growth. However, the unintended consequences of these policies on the sustainability of water and agricultural systems have not been fully understood in South Africa. This paper identified and analysed four system archetypes believed to have implications for current water and agricultural development policies in South Africa. These are ‘Limits to Growth’, ‘Fixes that Fail’, ‘Shifting the Burden’, and the ‘Attractiveness Principle’. The results show that policies implemented by the government ensure inclusiveness, equal access to natural resources, and improve productivity in the short‐term; the unintended consequences will ultimately undermine sustainability and food security over time.

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Farming systems in tropical regions of the world have been shown to be underperforming. [...]