Tropical Conservation and Sustainable Development Minor

Tropical areas host more than two-thirds of the world's biodiversity. Complementing the incredible plants and wildlife is the diversity of agricultural, business, and other livelihoods that individuals design to make a living in these landscapes. Costa Rica has long been known as a leader in conservation and sustainability and is known as the birthplace of ecotourism. Costa Rica has over 25% of its land in parks and protected areas, the majority of its electricity comes from hydroelectric power, and it was one of the first countries to institute a program of payments for ecosystem services to incentivize private land conservation. Both small-scale and industrial coffee farming, dairy and cattle production, sugarcane, and fruit crops cover much of the remaining landscape. Ecotourism has become one of the primary earners of foreign exchange.

In this minor, students will learn about environmental conservation and sustainable agricultural production in Costa Rica. All courses will highlight issues of conservation and sustainability in tropical systems. After completion of the program, students will have a detailed understanding of the diversity of topics, methods, and approaches to the conservation of tropical natural systems and sustainable production systems.

Code	Title	Hours
Total Hours required: 15 hours
Required courses (5-6 hours)
PARK 3630	Costa Rica Park Cons Manage	2-3
NATR 3320	Ecosys Services in Costa Rica	3
Restricted Electives (9-10 hours)
NATR 4250	Watersheds in Tropics	3
GEOS 3720	Study Abroad Climate Change	3
or GEOG 3720	Study Abroad Climate Change
CSES 3400	Sustain. Mgmt. of Trop. Soil	3
NATR 4970	Special Topics	1-4