495 - Special Topics: Land and Climate Change
Core/Elective: Elective
Credits: 0.5
Quarter Taught: Fall
Synopsis:
This course will investigate the dynamic relationships between land use and climate change. Topics covered will include: human-land relationships & ethics, systems of land tenure & use, climate impacts on land, humans, ecosystems & markets, and land-based climate adaptation & mitigation strategies, including conservation, carbon sequestration, indigenous land management practices and urban resilience. The course will be heavily discussion-based, drawing from case studies, reports, essays and other readings, with supporting lectures and guest speakers intended to spur thinking about the intersections of land use and climate across local, regional, national and global scales.
Course Objectives:
- Understand core concepts of land tenure, use and planning policy
- Explain the manifold problems facing current land use regimes as they relate to climate change
- Analyze intersecting impacts of land transitions with regard to water, biodiversity, food, energy, and natural resources
- Evaluate proposals for land use based on social, economic, environmental, technological and political dimensions
- Develop strategies for land in terms of adaptation to and mitigation of climate change impacts