Latin America & the Environment

LAS 302

Fall 2007

Instructor – Daniel Suman, Marine Affairs & Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, UM

Telephone: 305-421-4685

E-Mail: dsuman@rsmas.miami.edu

Credits - 3

Schedule – TTh 9:30 – 10:45; LC 160

Office Hours – TTh 11 – 12 (Location – Memorial 125D – the seminar room near Prof. Manzor’s office)

Course Description -

The course will begin with a theoretical background that forms the context in which to place Latin America’s current environmental challenges. During this introductory section, we will discuss themes such as structuralism and dependency theories, neo-liberal policies, and globalization. Another initial focus of the course will examine the current state of the environment in Latin America based on recent global studies, such as GEO-2000 and the Millennium Assessment. Following the development of the context, the course will consider a number of different thematic issues and examine their environmental, social, economic, and political dimensions. These areas include tropical rainforest alteration; indigenous peoples and biodiversity conservation; coastal and marine issues; agriculture; NAFTA, free trade, and the environment; and urban environmental issues. Students will develop their individual research project that examines the interdisciplinary nature of a current environmental issue in Latin America.

Evaluation – Evaluation will take the form of a written exercise, a class simulation exercise, and an individual class project. In addition, all students will be responsible for preparing critical summaries of the readings during different weeks of the course.

Written Exercise – 20

Class Case Study/Simulation Exercise - 20

Individual Class Project – 40

Class Presentations and Summaries of Readings - 10

Class Participation - 10

Materials

1. J. Timmons Roberts & Nikki Demetria Thanos, TROUBLE IN PARADISE: GLOBALIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES IN LATIN AMERICA (2003) [R&T] – Required Book

2. JFK School of Government, Case Study in Public Policy and Management – Discovery in the Amazon – Required

3. Other Readings contained in a Course Packet will be available through Blackboard or Handouts.

Syllabus

Week 1 - Overview of Current State of the Environment

UNEP, Global Environment Outlook – 2000 [GEO-2000]

Millennium Assessment [portions relevant to Latin America and the Caribbean]

Week 2 - Social Conditions and Demography: Urbanization and Poverty

Chant, Population, Migration, Employment and Gender, In LATIN AMERICA TRANSFORMED: GLOBALIZATION AND MODERNITY (Robert Gwynne & Cristobal Kay, eds.), pp. 226-269 (1999).

Clarke & Howard, Cities, Capitalism and Neoliberal Regimes. In LATIN AMERICA TRANSFORMED: GLOBALIZATION AND MODERNITY (Robert Gwynne & Cristobal Kay, eds.), pp. 306-324 (1999).

Week 3 - Patterns of Natural Resource Exploitation

Gwynne & Kay, Latin America Transformed: Changing Paradigms, Debates and Alternatives. In LATIN AMERICA TRANSFORMED: GLOBALIZATION AND MODERNITY (Robert Gwynne & Cristobal Kay, eds.), pp. 2-30 (1999).

Dore, Capitalism and Ecological Crisis: Legacy of the 1980s. In GREEN GUERRILLAS: ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS AND INITIATIVES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (Helen Collinson, ed.), pp. 8-19 (1996).

Kaimowitz, Social Pressure for Environmental Reform in Latin America. In GREEN GUERRILLAS: ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS AND INITIATIVES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (Helen Collinson, ed.), pp. 20-32 (1996).

Bunker, UNDERDEVELOPING THE AMAZON, pp. 238-255 (1988).

Week 4 - Globalization and the Environment

R&T, Chapter 1, The Scene, Its Problems and Roots, pp. 1-33

Murray, Natural Resources, the Global Economy and Sustainability. In LATIN AMERICA TRANSFORMED: GLOBALIZATION AND MODERNITY (Robert Gwynne& Cristobal Kay, eds.), pp. 127-152 (1999).

Week 5 - NAFTA & Free Trade

R&T, Pollution Havens on the United States-Mexico Border? NAFTA, Free Trade, and the Environment, Chapter 2, pp. 34-63.

Saldaña, Tijuana’s Toxic Waters, NACLA – REPORT ON THE AMERICAS XXXIII(3):31-35 (Nov./Dec. 1999).

Vaughan, How Green is NAFTA? Measuring the Impacts of Agricultural Trade, ENVIRONMENT 46(2):26-42 (Mar. 2004).

Weeks 6-7 - Tropical Rainforest Issues

R&T, Bio-Spelndor, Devastation, and Competing Visions in the Amazon, Chapter 5, pp. 128-163.

Nugent, Amazonian Indians and Peasants: Coping in the Age of Development, pp. 84-92

Cashore, Gale, Meidinger & Newsom, Forest Certification in Developing and Transitioning Countries, ENVIRONMENT 48(9):6-25 (Nov. 2006).

Lima, Merry, Nepstad, Amacher, Azevedo-Ramos, Lefebvre & Resque, Searching for Sustainability: Forest Policies, Smallholders, and the Trans-Amazon Highway, ENVIRONMENT 48(1):26-38 (Jan.-Feb. 2006).

Carvalho, Nepstad, McGrath, Vera Diaz, Santilli & Barros, Frontier Expansion in the Amazon: Balancing Development and Sustainability, ENVIRONMENT 44(3):34-45 (April 2002).

Álvarez, Forests Under Fire, NACLA – REPORT ON THE AMERICAS XXXV(1):29-34 (July/August 2001).

Ferreira & Salati, Forças de Transformação do Ecossistema Amazônico, ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS 19(54):25-44 (2005).

Lima & Pozzobon, Amazônia Socioambiental: Sustentabilidade Ecológica e Diversidade Social, ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS 19(54):45-76 (2005).

Lambin & Geist, Regional Differences in Tropical Deforestation, ENVIRONMENT 45(6):22-36 (Jul./Aug. 2003).

Timmer & Juma, Taking Root: Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Reduction Come Together in the Tropics, ENVIRONMENT 47(4):24-44 (May 2005).

Weeks 8-9 - Indigenous Peoples and Mega-Projects

R&T, Indigenous Peoples, Development Megaprojects, and Internet Resistance, Chapter 6, pp. 164-191.

Fraser, Joining Forces for Peru’s Rainforest, NACLA – REPORT ON THE AMERICAS XXXVI(6);13-16 (May/June 2003).

Herlihy, Central American Indian Peoples and Lands Today. In CENTRAL AMERICA: A NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY (A. Coates, ed.), pp. 215-240 (1997).

Suman, Globalization and the Pan-American Highway: Concerns for the Panama-Colombia Border Region of Darién-Chocó and its Peoples, INTER-AMERICAN LAW REVIEW 38(3):549-614 (2007).

Case Study/Simulation Exercise – “Discovery in the Amazon”

Weeks 10-11 - Marine Environmental Issues

a. Mangroves

Call, Pacific Coast Communities Confront Shrimp Farm Threat, NACLA – REPORT ON THE AMERICAS XXXVI(6):17-22 (May/June 2003).

Stanley, David vs. Goliath: Fishermen Conflicts with Mariculturists in Honduras, pp. 140-148.

b. Fisheries

Schurman, Fish and Flexibility: Working in the New Chile, NACLA – REPORT ON THE AMERICAS XXXVII(1): 36-43 (July/August 2003).

Greenberg, Political Ecology of Fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California. In REIMAGINING POLITICAL ECOLOGY (A. Biersack & J. Greenberg, eds.), pp. 121-148.

Suman, The Case of the Shrimp Industry in Eastern Panama (Darién Province): Unsustainable Harvest of a Valuable Export Product and Its Limited Impact on Local Community Development. In GLOBALIZATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS (R. Harris, ed.), pp.192-220 (2006).

c. Coastal Management

IDB, Coastal and Marine Resources Management in Latin America and the Caribbean (1998).

Week 12 - Agricultural Issues

Evenson & Gollin, Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960 to 2000, SCIENCE 300:758-762 (May 2, 2003).

R&T, Green Revolutions, Deforestation, and New Ideas, Chapter 3, pp. 64-93.

Thrupp, New Harvests, Old Problems: The Challenges Facing Latin America’s Agro-Export Boom. In GREEN GUERRILLAS: ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS AND INITIATIVES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (Helen Collinson, ed.), pp. 122-131 (1996).

Week 13 - Urban Issues

R&T, Hazards of an Urban Continent, Chapter 4, pp. 94-127.

Dávila, Enlightened Cities: The Urban Environment in Latin America. In GREEN GUERRILLAS: ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS AND INITIATIVES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (Helen Collinson, ed.), pp. 196-209 (1996).

Ezcurra & Mazari-Hiriart, Are Mega Cities Viable?, ENVIRONMENT 38(1):6-15, 26-35 (Jan./Feb. 1996).

Week 14 - Class Projects

R&T, Building a Global Civil Society: Living What We Know, Chapter 7, pp. 192-211.