F&ES 863a/EVST 353

Sustainability in Latin America: Issues and Topics

The concept of sustainability has acquired iconic status in the 25 years since 1987 and the publication of the Brundtland Commission’s report, Our Common Future. Despite the simple summary of it, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” figuring out what can and should be done in specific circumstances has proven to be most challenging. Nowhere are these challenges any more evident than they are in Latin America.

            Concerns about maintaining biodiversity; achieving higher standards of living while simultaneously narrowing wide gaps between the rich and poor; improving the health, education, and welfare of entire populations; devising economically efficient ways to account for valuable environmental services; creating competent means to govern and manage; building the capacity of organizations to operate more effectively; and a long list of other compelling issues all clamor for attention. The engagement of able, thoughtful, and willing individuals to engage and grapple with multiple dimensions of sustainability is essential.

Each year the course will focus on several of these concerns and treat them as topics for more careful consideration. Engaged scholars and practitioners from Latin America will visit Yale to share their work, including research, field studies, and practical efforts. At the same time considerable effort will be made to engage those in the Yale community with shared interests to stimulate collaborative ventures. The formulation of individual and joint research is especially valued, and this goal is sought for upper division undergraduates as well as for graduate/profess­sional students and faculty.

The course establishes a link between Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES) and the School of Management at the University of the Andes (UASM) in Bogota, Colombia as a key element in a new educational partnership and venture.