SFS3800: Conservation Science and Practice in Peru

The overarching goal of this course is to make students aware of the enormous responsibility and challenges humans have as stewards of the natural environment and to provide them with the concepts, tools, and incentives for conservation of natural environment. Dramatic changes are occurring in almost every corner of the world, many of which are a result of anthropogenic disturbances. Human activities release many greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Humans are overexploiting natural resources, polluting ecosystems, introducing exotic species into ecosystems, and causing habitat destruction at such a high rate that many scientists think that we have entered the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth. The fate of millions of species is dependent on actions that we take in the next few decades.Adopting an integrative view of the relationship between biodiversity and people, this course explores the concepts and strategies currently used to mitigate, restore, or conserve ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity. Using the Peruvian Amazon and Andean Highlands as our classroom, the course will draw largely from local examples that students will be able to observe first-hand. Furthermore, it will challenge students to integrate and apply their tropical and political ecology knowledge in conservation in order to respond creatively to real-world cases.The focus of the course is based largely on field activities that build on three core questions that will be answered in a series of lectures, videos, and readings:1. What is Conservation Science?2. What are the challenges in conservation science?3. What are the current tools and strategies used in the practice of conservation science?The conservation challenges that students will observe in the Amazonian and Andean regions are highly varied and many are repeated across the globe. Therefore, students will be encouraged to critically examine and document a wide variety of threats and learn to apply their theoretical knowledge to resolve complex real-world issues. Moreover, students will be able to draw parallels between Peruvian conservation strategies and those used globally by international agencies. The diversity of challenges and conservation strategies students observe in Peru will provide insight into the complexity of Conservation Science and the importance of treating these challenges within their own context by considering biological, environmental, social, economic, and political factors.

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