SFS3020: Environmental Governance, Development and Conservation

This course examines environmental policy and socioeconomic values through the lens of tourism development in Bocas del Toro, Panama (Bocas). After discussing environmental and social challenges historically connected with international tourism development, we will then explore the ideological thrust towards sustainable tourism, as well as critique this concept – always asking: “what are we sustaining and for whom?” The course will then move on to explore and examine the ways that international development (i.e., foreign investment and aid from global financial institutions) manifest locally in Bocas and explore the associated challenges and opportunities. This will require observing tourism in the field to understand the tourism hosts and guests, as well as how they interact, and the environmental and social implications of these interactions. This will be a part of preparing for conducting directed research geared towards better understanding tourism related challenges and potential solutions (policy, private sector, grassroots, etc.) on the archipelago. This discussion will be situated using governance as a theoretical context so that we may better understand the multifaceted and multi-actor way human behavior is controlled and organized, as well as how natural resources are allocated.

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