ENS 351 Environment, Conservation, and Policy Issues in Ecuador
This course is part of the Mellon collaboration Ecuador semester program. The main purpose of the course is to offer an introduction to the most influential factors shaping the ecosystems and their conservation looking at the global, regional, and local factors that determine the climates and the contrasting ecosystems in Ecuador. The course includes several field visits to the Ecuadorian Amazon (Tiputini Biodiversity Station) and the Galapagos Islands. This allows students to experience first-hand current topics of conservation and policy issues, while discussing the main environmental challenges associated with the conservation of natural ecosystems in tropical developing countries. Additionally, this course reviews the environmental issues facing contemporary Ecuador in the context of a transforming global reality. These issues include the oil industry and indigenous communities in the Amazon Basin, aquaculture, and shrimp farming, introduced species, large scale ranching and deforestation, fisheries, and the management of fragile marine ecosystems. We investigate possible solutions taking into account political and ecological pressures, perspectives of indigenous populations, environmentalists, the governments, NGOs, as well as international investors and multinational companies.