ACADEMIC YEAR 2025-2026

Over the last century, much of the world’s economic progress has been based on fossil fuels. While this has enabled extraordinary technological and material development, it has also irreversibly changed the Earth’s systems: today, we face intersecting environmental, health, and social crises never seen before. The problem: a predominantly linear economic model that aims at growth at all costs. This model, rooted in extractivist paradigms, has not only failed to respect the environment as the foundation of all life but has also reinforced colonial patterns of resource exploitation and inequality.

Circular bioeconomy seeks to move beyond this linear logic. It is an economic model which promotes the use of renewable biological resources, the reduction of waste, and the substitution of fossil-based materials. It aims to critically reduce the global ecological footprint by using materials for as long as possible and promoting emissions-reducing practices. This model is, however, not as new as it seems – societies have lived for thousands of years without relying on fossil fuels. At the same time, circular bioeconomy faces significant challenges and limitations. If it prioritizes economic growth and technoscientific innovation without addressing structural inequalities embedded in the global economy, it risks reinforcing business-as-usual rather than enabling transformative change.

In this course, we will examine some of the structural drivers and impacts of the current economic system and critically explore the opportunities and limitations of circular (bio)economy frameworks. We will analyze how circularity is integrated into bioeconomy strategies, policies, and practices. Finally, we will assess whether circular bioeconomy can contribute to a just and sustainable transformation and under what conditions.

This course aims to build students' insights of the conceptual debates on feminism and gender, including masculinities and queer theory, and their significance to environment and development. It unpacks the gendered consequences of the of development processes and policies as they are articulated in thematic areas such as climate change, disasters, gender-based violence, and resilience. In addition to input-discussion, the course uses participatory approaches through group reflections, group work, and hands-on exercises. 

In this seminar, you will explore the main frameworks, basic principles, and key requirements for managing environmental and social impacts from development projects. It covers the standards set by international organizations & examines how these frameworks may contribute to the protection of ecosystems and communities. Participants will learn about safeguards frameworks and some of their main requirements such as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and other instruments that will help you in your work from project formulation to implementation and monitoring.

By 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in an urban environment. In many countries in the developing world, this is already a reality, with 80-90% of their populations living in cities, with increasing and rapid rates of urbanization. Increased urban population growth, paired with other socio-economic realities that are characteristic to cities, poses enormous challenges to ensure quality of life and wellbeing for everyone, leaving no one behind.

In this course we will apply teachings from Indigenous Perspectives on Environment & Development I in practice. Specifically, we will learn from Indigenous leaders (Elders & youth) working on the following topics: land repatriation & defense, environmental protection, food sovereignty, cultural continuity, gender and Indigenous research. To do so, we will have a suite of readings/resources from international Indigenous authors as well as those from Nations within Costa Rica. The latter readings (and from part I of this course) will help us understand our on the ground experiences and teachings. Specifically, we will learn directly from Huetar, Brörán, Cabécar, Bribri, Brunka leaders (both on campus and in their territories). These teachings will be used in our critical reflective dialogues in class and in students journaling project. Overall, the goal of our course is to honour Indigenous wisdom and Indigenous pedagogies and to learn how to do so in the framework of professional careers in the fields of environment and development.  

The course on Indigenous Perspectives on Environment & Development will provide an overview on Indigenous Peoples around the world, their contributions and challenges in the context of environmental conservation and drive for development, and international legal and policy framework for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and their practices at national and regional levels. Accordingly, the course will enable an understanding of the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples for environmental conservation and sustainable development, including in the face of climate and other crises facing the humankind, with case studies of their struggles and practices of self-determination in various countries.

Climate change has been described as one of the biggest challenges humanity faces, since it has and increasingly will affect all human activities and life of all species. The way we organize our national and global society, our economy, will impact our potential for peace, development, wellbeing, and security, as well as all forms of life. A prime example of both global environmental change and global governance challenge, climate change continues to evade all past and present attempts of multilateral, national and local governance. Even though thousands of experts have been meeting annually over the last 30 years do discuss and negotiate, green house gas emissions have been growing at alarming rates. This course introduces key concepts of and the general state of knowledge on climate change science, and the debates around science, policy, and politics. Second, the course goes over the history of mainstream multilateral climate change governance institutions and analyzes the increasingly diverse actors in climate change governance networks, at local, national and regional levels. Third, this course analyzes the increasingly apparent shortcomings of multilateral mainstream governance institutions to recognize the urgency and to act in meaningful ways to address this global and local crisis. Finally, the course discusses proposals of vision and action towards a much-needed sustainability transformation in economic, social, political, and ecological terms.

The number of undernourished people in the world is on the rise even though we currently produce enough food to feed our global population. In this course we examine how this paradox relates to inequity. We analyze historical events that have shaped our current food security situation at different scales as well as frameworks and indicators to understand food security. We evaluate food crises and link these crises to the financialization of our food system. We also examine how different countries and actors have adopted food sovereignty to address economic and social inequity. Other key themes in this course include: sustainable agriculture, agroecology, shocks and our food system, food waste, nutritional transitions, food aid, & food culture.

This course examines contemporary energy transitions through the lens of social and environmental justice, asking who benefits, who bears the costs, and whose futures are made possible—or impossible—by “green” development. We will situate “clean” energy policies, technologies, and infrastructures within longer histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, and imperial expansion, while also attending to other axes of power, such as gender and class, in the Global North and South. Drawing on critical scholarship from Latin America, Indigenous North America, Black and Afro-diasporic, and Caribbean traditions, the course foregrounds how energy transitions are never purely technical projects, but deeply political struggles over land, knowledge, bodies, and life itself.

By analyzing different topics (epistemic hierarchies, top-down technocratic governance, territorial dispossession, ontological domination, and resistance/alternatives), this course will explore how energy transitions can both reproduce and challenge entrenched structures of domination. Case studies will include experiences of communities with wind and solar projects, critical mineral extraction for battery production, carbon markets and offset schemes, agrofuels and “green” hydropower, as well as community-led energy initiatives. We will examine how these processes intersect with racialized and gendered divisions of labour, urban–rural inequalities, and neoliberal forms of climate governance, paying particular attention to sacrifice zones, “green” extractivism, and contested notions of energy security.

The course highlights how communities are actively reimagining energy beyond extractivist and colonial logics. We will study Indigenous resurgence, peasant and Afro-descendant struggles, feminist and ecofeminist organizing, and community-based energy projects that advance energy sovereignty, food sovereignty, and territories of life. Through a combination of academic readings, videos, case-study analysis, and critical reflection, students will develop conceptual and practical tools to evaluate energy policies and projects, and to envision more just, relational, and pluriversal energy futures grounded in reciprocity, care, and collective self-determination.

This class is an opportunity to explore in-depth how different land-uses and conservation approaches intermingle in one particular region: the Southwest of Costa Rica. The purpose of the field trip is to obtain critical direct experience and knowledge of important natural resources management issues in a developing country, given the real political, economic, and natural resources context of the same. This course enables students to assess the contextual factors that affect natural resource management. Over the course of the trip, we will visit and be exposed to projects and issues with various resources, different actors involved in the management and different institutional settings. As such it will be a chance for you to integrate ideas from many of the classes you have taken over the course of your program, as well as a chance to learn from some of your peers about the topics to which you were not exposed during your program.

The disproportionate level of impacts that communities around the world, who have contributed least to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions face, is one of the core injustices at the heart of the climate change reality. What’s more, the systems which are responsible for economic inequality and various forms of social and racial injustice, are also the systems which perpetuate the problem of climate change. It is of critical importance that in creating solutions going forward we not only acknowledge but also act to address and centre the complexity between climate change and injustice across the world. Using climate adaptation as the starting point, this course is an exploration of the multifaceted ways that the climate justice lens can be applied to understand, address the root causes of the problem, and enhance the ways we support people to reorient to this quickly changing world. Recognising that there is a need for action, the goals of this course are centred around empowering students to feel they can act in a way that supports people to adapt to climate change while simultaneously addressing the complex web of social, racial, and environmental injustices that underpin many of the most vulnerable communities. 

In this course we will critically examine research methodology. Our course is designed to take student sequentially through the process of thinking about and designing research. Together, we will explore the basic structure of research and examine the philosophical origins of different research approaches. I will guide students as they learn to link different information-gathering methods to different research approaches. My emphasis will be on qualitative research methodology but we will introduce quantitative data gathering and sampling. To ensure that students gain hands on experience with the process of developing methodologies and implementing different information gathering procedures, I will complement lectures with workshops where students will learn by doing. Furthermore, I believe that learning about methods requires analyzing how these methods have worked (or not) in real-world case studies; thus, in class discussions of current case studies will complement workshops and lecture

Deforestation is considered one of the main global environmental challenges of our times, because of its significant impact on biodiversity, on the livelihoods of millions of people and its important contribution to Climate Change. This course analyzes the way deforestation and forest degradation have been and are being explained by both mainstream and alternative narratives. It critically engages with the way deforestation is defined and measured and discusses the various attempts to stop or reduce it. We will look at a range of conservation approaches that go from traditional protected areas, community-based strategies, and market-based approaches, as well as how forests and forest conservation and restoration have been made more important in these times of climate breakdown. We will explore the forest transition theory and analyze forest restoration from a socioeconomic and environmental lens. Illegal logging and timber trade will be looked at as a specific topic of particular importance since it is linked to development, poverty, organized crime, and violent conflict. Additionally, this course looks at the links between poverty and forest cover dynamics, some of the possible strategies to reduce poverty through forest-based activities and analyzes and discusses the importance of forests for humans and the challenges faced by those who try to manage them sustainably

Around 40% of the world’s population currently lives within 100 km of the coast, and nearly all humanity benefits from the world’s coasts and oceans for a variety of cultural, economic, and environmental reasons. Despite, or perhaps because, of their value to social and ecological processes, marine resources face increasing pressures and conflicts over their utilization. Additionally, climate change acts as a main driver of major oceanic and coastal threats.  

As a response to the evident crises of coastal resources, we have been able to move away from an understanding of a proclaimed inexhaustibility of the ocean, predominant in Western societies in the 19th century, to the development of tools intended to help stakeholders, from the local to the national and international levels, to protect and to manage these resources more equitably, effectively, and sustainably. 

In this course, we will identify major challenges and threats to the world’s oceans and coasts and their impact on coastal populations. We will look into different coastal ecosystems, their functions and importance. In addition to that, we will become familiarized with innovations, strategies, and management tools related to coastal resources management. Finally, through practical exercises, guest lectures, and field visits, students will be able to explore the complex nexus of relations between humans and coastal/marine resources as it applies to Latin America and the case of Costa Rica. 

In this course we will become familiar with contemporary issues in sustainable agriculture and critically analyse key debates in the field. To provide context to our discussions, we situate the emergence of sustainable agricultural practices within their historic contexts (e.g., green revolution and colonization) and we will examine key economic agreements that shape current agricultural markets and trade. We critically examine our global modes of production, industrial, agroecological, and we link our analysis to the most recent programs and policies regarding agriculture promoted by the FAO of the United Nations. In addition, we take on some of the most pressing agriculture issues including climate change, livestock, water, agricultural certifications, genetic engineering, markets, and gender/intersectionality. We mainstream social justice and intersectionality in our class to ensure that we understand how programs and policies affect countries, regions, territories and people differently.

This course analyzes the connections between environment, conflict, and security. After briefly going over some of the root causes of environmental and development crises, we will take a closer look at the different linkages between environmental change and human and national security, and armed or violent conflicts. We will discuss and analyze the initial understandings of environmental security, going from older frameworks of scarcity induced conflicts to natural resource abundance, and then move the discussion towards securitizing climate change, conservation conflicts, the increasingly visible violence suffered by environmental defenders, and end with the topic of environmental peacebuilding. Throughout the course we will be dealing with concepts like sustainability, ecological limits, limits to growth, globalization, and emphasize the importance of including power dynamics and historical, political, ecological, and economic perspectives when analyzing and discussing concepts like development, environment, and peace and conflicts.