The Spring Break 2027 Peru course is open for applications until September 30th!
Information session for the course is this Friday, September 11th at 12:00pm in TMH 1301 conference room. All are welcome!
Course Basics:
PLCY 798T: Sustainable Development, Environmental Policy, and Human Rights in Peru will run from March 12 to March 21, 2027. The course is led by Prof. Tom Hilde, Matt Regan, and Makynzie Horvath. The itinerary includes the Amazon rainforest region of Tambopata and Lima on the Pacific coast. A description of the course can be found below.
This course is a 3-credit graduate course that accepts graduate students of all backgrounds from UMD and other universities and senior and junior undergraduates in good academic standing. If you are interested in applying, it's best to do so earlier rather than at the last minute. All specializations are welcome.
If you have a graduate assistantship, tuition remission should apply. Check with your advisor for more details. Scholarships are available from Education Abroad for both graduate students and undergrads.
Course Description:
At the margins of a fast-changing world are the sites from which the global economy draws its material resources, such as oil, critical minerals, cash crops, and other export commodities. These regions often have limited governance and human security, major environmental and climate impacts, and far-reaching implications for global trade and development. Taking a systemic, multidisciplinary approach, participants study complex policy challenges in Peru with a focus on the tensions between economic development, environmental well-being, and human security, particularly of local indigenous peoples. In the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios – one of the most biodiverse regions in the world – we travel by boat up the Tambopata River to stay at Posada Amazonas, an eco-lodge co-owned and operated on indigenous land by the Ese’eja community of Infierno. We study this cooperative arrangement of ecotourism as an example of employment-generating, environmentally-sound, and self-managed local development, especially in the face of the most pervasive model: large-scale resource extraction moving further into the Amazon. This includes illegal logging, but the main driver of deforestation and other human and environmental threats (human trafficking, mercury pollution) in the region is illegal gold mining. Most of the miners migrate from communities in the Andes, pushed by environmental change and economic insecurity.
We'll trek in the forest with indigenous guides and encounter its rich wildlife, discuss with community members, and, in the town of Puerto Maldonado, meet with NGOs about their work in the region.
In Lima, we meet with leading scholars and researchers, government officials, and others to discuss and analyze the economic, political, and cultural frameworks through which environmental, development, and security policy develops in Peru. This includes a workshop with experts at one of Peru's most prestigious think tanks and meetings at some of the most important institutions in the country.
Apply:
For more information and to apply for the course, please go to the Education Abroad webpage for the course here.