Forests of the World

F&W ECOL/ENVIR ST 100
Tuesday/Thursday, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 credits

Instructor

Course Description

How we are, as humanity, impacted by climate change and species extinctions depends heavily on the planet’s forests. They have the potential to be an important part of solution to climate change and the sixth mass extinction of species. At the same time, more than 350 million people depend on forests for subsistence.

So that we can be part of the solution, we should have a good understanding of the ecology of forests of the world, and investigate thoroughly what different approaches to forest conservation are, why they sometimes work, and fail other times.

In this course, we will study the ecology, conservation, and sustainable management of a wide variety of forests, from tropical rainforests in Borneo, tropical dry forests of Madagascar, sacred forest groves in India, all the way to the boreal forests in Russia and Canada, amongst many others.

We will practice skills that are crucial in the international forest conservation sector, such as weighing up evidence and communicating science in a compelling and rigorous way.