Environmental Science Policy and Management

Application of demographic methods to the management of plant and animal populations. Conservation problems faced by small populations of threatened or exploited species will be emphasized. Implications for life-history theory will also be discussed. Demographic analyses include (1) an understanding of life cycle diagrams, projection matrices, and age- and stage-based approaches; (2) calculation of population growth rate and sensitivity of demographic parameters to perturbation; and (3) advanced tehcniques of stochastic simulation modeling, spatial analyses, and population viability analyses will be learned.

Examine major issues and approaches in ecosystem management. Topics include development of the ecosystem approach, valuation of ecosystem commodities and services, assessment of ecosystem sustainability, simulation and prediction of ecosystem dynamics, decision-making methods, social and institutional aspects. Particular emphasis is given to emerging conceptual frameworks and analytical tools.

This course explores critical policy and theoretical questions in the governance of global production. Current trends in the restructuring of industrial production; distributions of environmental, labor, and social impacts from this production; and new strategies for democratic governance are analyzed, including corporate self-regulation, monitoring, certification and labeling, fair trade programs, legal strategies, and international accords and agreements.

Contemporary issues in international environmental politics; impacts of globalization on the environment; comparative transnational environmental movements. Study of current and historical texts. Case studies drawn from around the world with a focus on methods and research techniques.

This seminar in workshop format features current research of faculty and doctoral students investigating the application of economics, systems analysis, and environmental modeling techniques to the management of forest and wildland ecosystems. Organization of research presentations, the scientific publication process, and research funding issues will also be addressed.

This course will introduce the methods and theories of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in order to explore the relationships among science, technology, law, and politics in the domains of environment and health. The course will focus some attention on the tension between technocracy and democracy in science policy, and on the role of biotechnology in reshaping the natural and political order. The course will equip graduate students in the social sciences, law, life sciences, and public policy with theoretical and practical tools for analyzing complex problems at the science, technology, and society interface.

Critique and comparison of literature in political ecology--an approach to sociological analysis of environmental change focusing on environmental conflict. Initial sessions address the definition of political ecology, its origins, and the politics and discourses of natural resource management. Literature includes domestic and international research involving the combination of social and environmental history, local perspectives, and political economy to discuss accounts of social and environmental change.

Changes in Third World rural economy, ecology, and environment and ways in which these are affected by development policies. Historical dimensions of Third World environmental problems. Changing patterns of rural production (especially food) and resource use; alternative theories of natural resource and socioeconomic development; linkages between socioeconomy and environment in agrarian change and development policy; technology and resource control; conservation and development problems

A critical survey of classical and recent literature in the field of environmental history, philosophy, and ethics, with special emphasis on the American environment. Topics will include environmental historiography, theories of environmental history, and the relationships between environmental history, philosophy, ethics, ecology, and policy

Presentation and analysis of current topics in environmental science, policy, and management. This course is required for all ESPM doctoral students.