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Module Content

The module is for PG students, and it is focused on providing students with in depth understanding and practice of conservation science and practice. It consists of a mix of independent studies, lectures and a 5-day field trip in the Rio Negro region, Amazon Forest, Brazil. During the field trip, students will be based on a riverboat and visit different Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) who live in the region and explore different aspects of the forest as well as conservation/development projects operating in the region. The module aims to help students on a better understanding of the complex context of conservation initiatives, IPLCs and NGOs working in the largest rainforest on the planet. Student will also gain experience in developing impact-focused projects that aim to promote local livelihoods while protecting the forest.

Teaching Content

The module is divided into two parts: in the first part students explore the different aspects of the Amazon Forest and its peoples through a mix of group discussions and lectures on conceptual and practical dimensions of the region. In second part students stay 5 days on a riverboat in the Rio Negro Region where they visit different Indigenous peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), NGOs and develop a research project to tackle a specific challenge for the conservation of the Amazon and its peoples.

This module involves a mixture of lecture-based teaching with student led activities project work, and field work. It is designed around the principle of experiential learning and Paulo Freire’ Pedagogy of the Oppressed approach, in which students learn through peer collaboration, problem solving and from hearing and interacting with IPLCs living in the forest.

After completing the module, the student should be able to:

• Understand the different groups living in the forest, their livelihood strategies and protected areas.
• Critically evaluate the Amazon Forest conservation agenda and political ecology.
• Plan a scientific study that addresses a focused challenge for the Amazon Forest conservation and its peoples.
• Synthesize the different types of conservation strategies presented in the Amazon.

Indicative Teaching Delivery

Four-hour seminar involving a two-hour lecture followed by two-hour class / practical involving student-led discussion of the history of the Amazon Forest and its people, the challenges for the Amazon Conservation and the current conservation agenda of the Amazon Forest in Brazil.

Term 3:

Students will spend 5 days on a riverboat in the Rio Negro Amazon Forest after the end of Term 2.Ìý They will visit 5 different communities living in Protected Areas of the Forest, learn with them about their livelihoods and challenges, and visit some iconic locations in the area.Ìý

Additional Information:

Formative Assessment

The formative evaluation will be done through group work. The class will divide the class into 3 or 4 groups and each group will work together on a possible grant proposal to address a specific conservation or social challenge of the Amazon Forest. The topics will be chosen by the groups themselves and they can vary from raising funding for a local community in the region to build a new lodge to receive tourists or a grant proposal to implement a participatory monitoring program in the region. The proposal can also take the form of a campaign to raise money for local groups’ stated priorities. Students will be asked to meet their peers repeatedly throughout the boat trip. The groups will be asked to develop their ideas while visiting the initiatives in the region and meet the local people.

Students will receive on-going verbal feedback from peers and the module tutors/instructor on the development of their project proposals.

Students will also discuss their peer's participation verbally. During the last day of the boat trip when we return to Manaus we will use the time in the boat for students themselves to evaluate their peers’ participation and engagement in the projects.

Readings:

Rural Social Movements in Latin America: Organizing for Sustainable Livelihoods. Edited by Carmen Diana Deere and Frederick S. Royce. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009

Lima Ayres, D. D. M. (1992).ÌýThe social category caboclo : history, social organisation, identity and outsider’s social Solimoes) classification of the rural population of an Amazonian region (The Middle Solimoes).

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