Environment, Development and Peace

UPM 6001-UPEACE Foundation Course

3Credits

The UPEACE Foundation Course provides a critical and concise introduction to the broad field of “Peace Studies” for students in all UPEACE programmes. It initially addresses key conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the origins and development of peace studies as an interdisciplinary area within the fields of international relations and political economy, as well as a basic understanding of conflict analysis. Based on a critical analysis of policies, strategies, policies, institutions, organizations, and movements, the course then examines a range of core issues, dimensions, perspectives, and paradigms for understanding the root causes of conflicts and violence and constructive strategies to address them and build peace in contemporary global, international, regional, national and local contexts, including conflict management, conflict resolution, and conflict transformation; alternative discourse analysis; militarization and disarmament; human rights violations and promotion; gender inequalities, gender-based violence and gender mainstreaming; structural violence, human security, development and globalization; environmental sustainability; corporate social responsibility; cultural and religious identities; media’s role in conflict and peacebuilding; strategies of nonviolence; and peace education. This Foundations course will be essential in catalyzing the awareness, understanding, and motivation of UPEACE students from diverse academic programmes to relate, ground, or intersect their specific areas of academic and practitioner interest with core theoretical, conceptual, and analytical ideas in peace studies.

DED-6007-Environment, Conflicts, and Sustainability

3Credits

This course will take a close look at the linkages between environment, conflict and development. We will discuss the different root causes of environmental and social or development crises as they come forward in the literature, focusing on a series of highly contested concepts and narratives around overpopulation, economic growth, and free market capitalism and globalization. Part of this discussion will be an analysis of the responses to these crises and what can, should and is being done to stop them.

We will take a closer look at the different linkages between environment and armed conflicts. We will discuss the literature on environmental security, going from older frameworks of scarcity induced conflicts to natural resource abundance, move the discussion to more complex issues of ecological limits, limits to growth, and ecological security, integrating globalization, and historical, political, ecological and economic issues that influence development, environment, and peace and conflicts.  We will end with

DED 6022-Sustainable Agriculture

3Credits

In this course we will become familiar with contemporary issues in sustainable agriculture and critically analyze key debates in the field. To provide context to our discussions, we situate the emergence of sustainable agricultural practices within their historic contexts (e.g., green revolution) and we will examine key economic agreements that shape current agricultural markets and trade. We critically examine our global modes of production, industrial, agroecological, and sustainable intensification and we link our analysis to the most recent programs and policies regarding agriculture promoted by the FAO of the United Nations (e.g., scaling-up of agroecology). In addition, we take on some of the most pressing agriculture issues including: climate change, livestock, water security, agricultural certifications, biotechnology (including GMOs), markets, local food, and gender. We mainstream a social justice angle in our class to ensure that we understand how programs and policies affect countries and people differently, by gender, age, and ethnicity.

UPM 6003-The United Nations System and UPMUNC (Part I)

2Credits

Ever since its establishment in 1945, the United Nations has performed a pivotal function in a great variety of affairs, large or small, international and national. As such, the UN has played an incisive role in the lives of people around the world. Much of what the UN does is taken for granted and even goes unnoticed by the larger public, to the point that there has been expressed that ‘if the UN did not exist it would have to be invented’.

At the same time, millions around the world look to the UN expecting it to address many of the enormous challenges faced by humankind. These complex dynamics are complemented by the fact that the UN is both reliant on what the member states want, while at the same time, being much more than the sum of its members. This course provides a comprehensive and rigorous introduction into the UN system, including its origins and history, its organizational framework and the functioning of various organs, agencies, bodies and programmes. 

Students will critically examine the most important areas of the UN mission including the key Charter principles, the pillars of international peace and security, economic and social progress, development and human rights as well as a growing list of priorities and initiatives (e.g., gender equality and  mainstreaming; eliminating gender-based violence; environmental protection; climate change; post-2015 development agenda; Global Education First Initiative; action to counter terrorism; R2P, etc.).

In addition, the course offers a close scrutiny at some of the challenges the UN faces and discusses also various proposals for its reform. Students will be encouraged to reflect on how UN priorities and initiatives can be constructively addressed in their respective fields and programmes of peace studies.

DED 6034 -Forest, Forestry and Poverty

3Credits

Deforestation is considered one of the main global environmental challenges of our times, because of its significant impact on biodiversity and its important contribution to Climate Change and Global Warming, as well as on the livelihoods of millions of people. This course analyzes the way deforestation and forest degradation have been and are being explained by both mainstream and alternative narratives. It critically engages with the way deforestation is defined and measured and discusses the various attempts in stopping or reducing it. We will look at a range of conservation approaches that go from traditional protected areas over community-based strategies, and the increasingly common market-based approaches and finally forest restoration. Illegal logging and timber trade will be looked at as a specific topic of particular importance since it is linked to development, poverty, and violent conflict. Additionally, this course looks at the links between poverty and deforestation, some of the possible strategies to reduce poverty through forest-based activities, and analyzes and discusses the importance of forests for humans and the challenges faced by those who try to manage them sustainably.

DED 6038 -Water Security and Peace

3Credits

This course explores local water security and the “ripple” effects on societies. The course will build on a coupled systems framework to understand the physical and social elements of local water security. Students will use their foundations in peace studies to reflect on how water insecurity may threaten or reinforce positive peace, particularly at the local level. 

The course will consist of an introduction to the hydrological cycle and variations in water resources over space and time, followed by a coupled systems framing of local water security, an understanding of the different ways in which we use and value water, consequences of water insecurity, the role of intersectionality in water (in)security, and how we can undertake research to better understand water (in)security. 

 The course will be virtual and interactive, consisting of presentations by the lecturer and students, readings, discussions, assignments, and group work.

DED 6054-Coastal Resource Management

3Credits

Nearly 50% of the world’s population currently lives within 100 km of the coast, and nearly all humanity is dependent on the world’s coasts and oceans for a variety of cultural, economic and environmental reasons.

Despite, or perhaps because, of their value to social and ecological processes, marine resources face increasing pressures and conflicts over their utilization. Among the most pressing issues facing the world’s oceans, five major categories can be distinguished: i) human population growth, particularly in coastal areas. This is an overarching category as population growth affects all of the remaining categories; ii) pollution (e.g., noise, sewage-water discharge, eutrophication); iii) resource over-use (e.g., overfishing); iv) habitat destruction and degradation (e.g., dying coral reefs, disappearing mangrove forests) and v) invasive species (e.g., lion fish in the Caribbean). Additionally, all of these major threats are affected by emerging crosscutting issues such as climate change.

In response to the evident crises in coastal and oceanic resources, over the last several decades there has been an emergence of management tools intended to help stakeholders, from the local to the national and international levels, manage these resources more equitably, effectively, and sustainably. In the most general sense, this course is intended to enable students to familiarize themselves with the language, history and main management tools related to coastal resource management and to the nature of the problems being faced. The course is not focused on the biology or population dynamics of coastal resources, but rather intends to analyze the practice and science of coastal-resource management from the perspective of policy design and implementation.

Specifically, this course will provide a brief introduction to key physical and biological characteristics of the oceans, as well as discussion concerning their relation to human history. Second, we will investigate the unique human economic, social, and cultural attributes (e.g., fishing, fishers and fishing cultures) that are most directly dependent upon them. Among the many topics within this section, the course will specifically focus on understanding artisanal vs. small-scale fisheries, large-scale/industrial fishing as well as the differences and conflicts that exist between these sectors. Third, a broad overview of the development of the current resource crises and conflicts will be presented and examined via case studies from throughout the globe. Fourth, the evolution and trends in coastal and marine management over the last century will also be a central aspect of this course. We will explore and discuss the evolution from traditional top-down models to the implementation of stakeholder inclusion, participation, and co-management. We will also review the role of marine protected areas, and no-take reserves in the management and conservation of coastal resources. Finally, through practical exercises, guest lectures, and field visits, students will be able to explore the complex nexus of relations between humans and coastal/marine resources as it applies to Latin America and the case of Costa Rica.

In sum, students in this course will gain insight into and knowledge of how we have moved from the proclaimed inexhaustibility of marine resources, predominant in the 19th century, to the increasingly complex layers of marine tenure systems, marine protected areas, and precautionary approaches that characterize contemporary 21st century marine and coastal resource management regimes.

DED 6084-Social Research Methods

3Credits

In this course we will critically examine research methodology. Our course is designed to take student sequentially through the process of thinking about and designing research. Together, we will explore the basic structure of research and examine the philosophical origins of different research approaches. I will guide students as they learn to link different information-gathering methods to different research approaches. My emphasis will be on qualitative research methodology but we will introduce quantitative data gathering and sampling. To ensure that students gain hands on experience with the process of developing methodologies and implementing different information gathering procedures, I will complement lectures with workshops where students will learn by doing. Furthermore, I believe that learning about methods requires analyzing how these methods have worked (or not) in real world case studies; thus, in class discussions of current case studies will complement workshops and lectures.

DED 6050-Climate Change Governance

3Credits

Scientists worldwide agree that human-induced climate change is occurring and have documented the environmental scenarios that humanity is moving towards. Widespread awareness about such impacts and ensuing policy actions to address it, are a relatively recent phenomenon. The creation of climate policy mechanisms and international legal instruments has been the result of a series of complex, long-lasting negotiation processes that include multiple stakeholders acting across multiple scales and potentially influence global socio-economic, cultural and ethical conducts. Thus, climate governance must be analyzed over various spatial, temporal and system scales. 

This course examines climate change governance by looking at the interaction between these multiple elements, beginning with a historical overview of the scientific evidence, the mechanisms for that knowledge to permeate into decision making, the multilateral, regional, national and sub-national governance spheres and the most current state of affairs.

Special attention will be drawn to:

• effective science-policy interfacing mechanisms,
• the structure of multi-level organizations to enable cooperation and dialogue,
• the existence of appropriate legal instruments,
• special governance considerations in especially vulnerable ecosystems (like poles and the ocean).

DED-6024-Food Security

3Credits

The number of undernourished people in the world is on the rise despite the fact that we currently produce enough food to feed our global population. In this course we examine how this paradox relates to inequality, conflict, and climate change. We analyze historical events that have shaped our current food security at different scales as well as frameworks and indicators to understand food security. We evaluate food crises, food riots, and how these crises link to the financialization of our food system. We also examine how different countries and actors have adopted food sovereignty to address economic and social inequalities in our food system. Other key themes in this course include: sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, food waste, nutritional transitions, urban food security, and sustainable diets, Students have the unique opportunity to learn course themes in practice during local field visits, invited lectures, and through gardening on the UPEACE organic farm.

DED 6043 -Urban Sustainability

3Credits

By 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in an urban environment. In many countries in the developing world, this is already a reality, with 80-90% of their populations living in cities, with increasing and rapid rates of urbanization. Increased urban population growth, paired with other socio-economic realities that are characteristic to cities, poses enormous challenges to ensure quality of life and wellbeing for everyone, leaving no one behind.

Urban sustainability goes beyond how "green" a city is. This course will be based on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and the New Urban Agenda, and will provide an understanding on how sustainability in cities is a multi-variable concept, interconnected with other SDGs and issues such as urban planning, transport planning and design, inequality, climate action, health, gender, economic development, among others. You will learn from case studies, articles, reports and the experience of experts in the field, in addition to gaining tools and developing skills that will help you propose strategies, projects and policies to improve your community, town or city in order to make it more sustainable. 

DED 6047-Conservation through Reconciliation

3Credits

In this course, Eli Enns will take students through an exploration in geopolitics, international dispute resolution and nature conservation from the vantage point of an Indigenous Nation Builder in Canada - The world's only multi-national Indigenous-European state. What does the word "Canada" mean? Embracing the Nuu'chah'nulth worldview of Hishuk'ish Tsawaak, students will experience an intimate view into an advanced Indigenous societies perspective. We will also explore some of the successful examples arising in Canada over the past several decades of Indigenous-led conservation of nature through reconciliation, including Tribal Parks and The Pathway to Canada Target 1.

DED 6080 -Quantitative Data Management

1Credits

Quantitative Data Management course will provide an initial approach to data collection, organization, use of statistics and field methods that are used in environmental and ecology fields. Students will learn during this course how to approach, gather and analyze observations using available datasets and from observations recorded in the field. In this course, students will use commonly use software to organize data and create graphs, such as Excel, but also use current Statistical software (R statistics software) to provide evidence of patterns in the data. Students will also have the opportunity to gather their own data in the field to later analyze it statistically. Students will learn about different types of data and how different statistical tests handle them. Common statistics used by environmental scientists and field ecologists will be explored. Students will also learn appropriate ways to present data in graphs and tables.

DED 6079-Fundraising for Sustainable Development

2Credits

One of the challenges for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals relates to strengthening public institutions, non-government organizations, development agencies, and other actors to transform solution ideas and proposals into concrete realities that improve the well-being of our society. 2 This course aims at reinforcing the knowledge, skills and attitudes of professionals involved in sustainable development initiatives for delivering efficient and effective solutions with the available resources. In this course, we will introduce concepts and tools on better designing and planning practices that lead to the successful funding of projects at the local or national level.

DED 6052 -Gender, Environment, Development

3Credits

This course will analyze intersectional feminist perspectives on the relationships between gender, development, and the non-human environment.  From identifying the ecological shifts brought on by the colonization of the Americas to understanding the feminist critiques of genetic science testing, this course explores the ways in which historical social structures deeply inform our experiences with the environment around us. In this course we will survey several key environmental topics such as exposure to chemical toxins, climate change, food sovereignty, and forest management from feminist perspectives. We will use theory and case studies from women’s studies, environmental studies and ethnic studies to interrogate processes such as racism, sexism, classism and colonialism as they relate to our understanding of the environment.

UPM-6003-The United Nations System and UPMUNC (Part II)

1Credits

The UPEACE Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC) is the second part of a composite three credit course that begins with the two-credit introductory course on the United Nations System, taught in the first semester. Through a simulation of UN bodies, committees, procedures, and codes of conduct, this immersive and experiential educational exercise encourages the application of knowledge gained in previous courses, including an understanding of the objectives and functions of the United Nations system, as well as the development of professional skills related to research, public speaking, negotiation, mediation of conflict, and the preparation of official documents.   

Historically, the conference has been open to outside participants from colleges and universities both regionally and internationally, presenting additional possibilities for networking, dialogue, and educational exchange among all participants. UPMUNC is further enriched by special events, which typically include a panel of invited speakers, a diplomatic reception, an awards ceremony, and a closing celebration.    

DED 6066-Applied Environment and Development

3Credits

The course is oriented to enable students to understand the organizations and institutions and their agendas in Costa Rica, related to environment and development.  Special emphasis is given on the role, strategies, policies and actions of these organization. The course consists of visiting local, national and international institutions, and discussing their objectives and roles in the sphere of natural resource management and sustainable development, and corresponding policies.

DED 6029 - Climate Adaptation and Justice

3Credits

Climate change adaptation without mainstreaming equity and justice, will only serve to perpetuate existing inequity. In this class, we will take a justice lens to analyze climate change impacts and adaptation efforts. Specifically, we will examine the following themes: 1) adaptation, resilience & climate action, 2) energy transitions, 3) human rights, 4) rights of nature, 5) gender and intersectional justice, 6) climate change and displacement as well as 7) Indigenous peoples and climate change. Students will examine this suite of themes via multiple contemporary case studies.