As a school that upholds the interdisciplinary and integrative orientation of environmental science, SESAM espouses principles from agriculture, biology, forestry, sociology, anthropology, mathematics and statistics, geology, meteorology, soil science and other related fields. It focuses on understanding the dynamics of environmental issues arising from the interaction of human population and the biophysical environment. It involves the participation of various domains from the natural, social, and engineering sciences and humanities. It seeks to understand the totality of the environment that human society has created.