Course objectives: ii) To visit and observe a range of field sites of diverse forest structure, land use and management practices; ii) to meet local populations to understand local cultures and their dependency on the forest resource; iii) to introduce the key social and political influences on the management of natural resources by different groups of people in particular environmental contexts; iv) participate in group discussions about the issues raised during visits; v) to develop a critical and analytical attitude to the natural and managed environment; vi) to develop skills in designing and executing a research project.

Course contents: A two-week field course to an environmentally diverse area. This will alternate between tropical environments in collaboration with consortia partners (e.g. Costa Rica (hosted by CATIE), French Guyana). Students will be taken to a variety of sites which demonstrate a range of natural and managed vegetation, and a range of conservation and sustainability issues. Some of these will involve meeting and discussion with local experts. In the second week, students will work in small teams on a project evolved in discussion with the teaching staff.

Teaching and learning methods: Students will apply concepts acquired during theoretical lectures in Year 1 of the Course.  Field exercises will demonstrate the applicability of the central concepts.  Each student will participate in a supervised group. Each group will prepare a synopsis before the project, conduct fieldwork, prepare and submit a course report. 2 weeks field work in a developing or developed country.

Examination: parts: (i) Group field report, max. 5,000 words, (ii) group oral defence of report. Weight: Field report (60%) and Oral defence of report (40%). External examiner.

Competences acquired: By the end of the module students should be able to: identify and discuss the key social and political influences on the management of natural resources by different groups of people in particular environmental contexts. Subject specific skills include plant and ecosystem identification; key skills include; an ability to apply principles to locally specific knowledge/conditions; to critically judge the usefulness of methods and the reliability of collected data as well as the significance of obtained results; project and hypothesis design and execution; data interpretation and analyses.