ENVT 352 & POLI 319 Environmental Sustainability and Policy: SPAIN’s Best Practices, Opportunities and Challenges

College of Charleston, Trujillo Spain – Study Abroad Fall 2018

This course will review sustainability case studies in Spain on local, country and global scales with a focus on the environment, oceans and atmosphere. Students will learn key concepts behind sustainability; integration of economic, environmental and social dimensions and how that translates into policy and positive change. This course will track to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Goals and how Spain is implementing goals and best practices and if not, what are the challenges and barriers to success.

After an introduction to sustainability studies and related UN and Spanish policies, course is divided into 3 modules.

• Biodiversity and Protected Areas (Topics include: protected and endangered species management, marine and land-based protected areas, eco-tourism and invasive species)
• Food Production and Harvesting (Topics include: wild commercial and illegal fisheries, aquaculture; local agriculture, meat and wine production, cork, small vs. industrial scale)
• Climate Change and Energy (Topics include: deforestation, drought, water availability and heat waves; local solar and wind energies.

The content will complement the Conservation Biology (BIOL 450; 250) and Natural History of Spain (BIOL 453/453; 250/250L) classes and illustrate the complexity of long-term sustainability from basic science and policy/resource management perspectives. The course will culminate in a final project related to one topic and the student’s experience. The course is designed to encourage peer-exchange through weekly topics, lectures, group discussion, written exercises, activities and field trips.