Can Nature Save Us? The Politics of Climate Repair

(3 Credits)

This course examines how institutions and incentive-based mechanisms can protect and expand carbon-rich ecosystems - tropical forests and coastal "blue carbon" systems, such as mangroves - to address the climate crisis. Deforestation and mangrove destruction contribute significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions, while these ecosystems provide critical services for climate mitigation, biodiversity, and livelihoods. Despite multilateral frameworks such as REDD+ and emerging carbon credit markets, conservation efforts face a credibility crisis. Students will explore the global public goods nature of ecosystem protection, local incentives that drive ecosystem loss, climate finance and other strategies for promoting conservation and restoration, and methods for evaluating them. A unique feature of the course is a field visit to mangrove expansion and restoration projects in the UAE. Students will meet UAE-based experts to study blue carbon initiatives. Using insights from class and the field visits, students will develop team-based research projects that attempt to apply the lessons from the UAE's blue carbon experience to other contexts globally. The course draws on perspectives from economics, political science, international relations, conservation science, and anthropology, and emphasizes mixed-methods research and effective communication of findings.