People and Protected Areas

Instructor: Jill Belsky

Course Description

This course focuses on the complex relationships among protected areas, biodiversity conservation and social conditions. Through understanding on-going tensions between protected areas and especially local livelihoods and governance, this course will examine strategies for using protecting areas to build resilient and just socio-ecological systems.

Key topics to be addressed

1. Introduction and (brief) History pf Protected Area (PA) Concept, Practices and Debates (latter will emphasize frameworks of resiliency/sustainability)
2. PA and Globalization (emphasis on the context of economic/neoliberal development; biodiversity/climate change etc)
3. Sustainable Livelihoods (attention to poverty, resource poor peoples and concerns related to conservation farming/forestry/livestock/other microenterprises)
4. Integrated Conservation and Development (ICDPs)
5. Rights and Resources (property/territoriality, displacement, security issues)
6. Governance (heavy emphasis on issues in co-management ~ tribal/indigenous and others)
7. Participatory Research and (Multi) Monitoring
8. Restructuring PA management ~ how above contributes to PAs as resilient and just socio-ecological systems (emphasis on collaborative, interdisciplinary PA management)