Curriculum

Students may take a maximum of 6 credits based on the following substantive and skills course offerings.

International & Comparative Environmental Law (Credits: 2)
Professor Thomas T. Ankersen
Emerging developments in International and Comparative Environmental Law are studied through an examination of issues of relevance to Costa Rica and Latin America — such as climate change, transboundary and shared resources, intellectual property and biodiversity, trade and the environment, forestry, and human rights and the environment. Land use planning and urban and coastal development are emerging areas of emphasis. Case studies are utilized to examine these issues.
2011 Syllabus (29KB)

Comparative and International Watershed Management: Law, Science and Policy (2 credits)
Professor Richard Hamann, UF College of Law, Professor Gabriella Stocks, UF Department of Anthropology
This course will explore the intersection between law, science and policy as it is applied to watershed management in an international and comparative context. It will utilize selected watershed case studies from Costa Rica and elsewhere in Latin America. In the context of these watersheds, legal frameworks and management approaches for water allocation, water quality, diversions and impoundments (including dams), and the provision of environmental services will be addressed. The course will also address questions of social justice as it applies to competing uses of water at the national and local scale.

International and Comparative Environmental Law Skills Lab (Credits: 2)
Professor Franklink Paniagua
This simulation based course uses materials from the substantive courses described above to provide cross cultural skills training in dispute resolution ranging from negotiation and mediation, to arbitration before trade panels under the CAFTA/NAFTA, to appellate advocacy before international tribunals such as the Inter-American Court for Human Rights and the Law of the Sea Tribunal.

Conservation Clinic (Credits: 2)
Professor Thomas T. Ankersen
Conservation Clinic . The Clinic works with attorneys and environmental professionals in Costa Rica to develop novel legal approaches to advance conservation in the region. The Clinic has assisted Costa Rica and Latin American NGOs across a wide range of issues including climate change, the human right to indigenous property, civil responsibility for pesticide contamination and sea turtle conservation. The Conservation Clinic is limited to qualified applicants selected by the faculty based on their background and language skills, as well as project needs.

Cultural Immersion through Home Stay Program

You also may take advantage of the University of Costa Rica’s Home Stay program, an inexpensive way to combine lodging and meals with the study of Spanish through immersion.

Field Trips

Program students participate in one required three day field trip to the remote turtle nesting beach of Tortuguero on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. Travel and lodging for this trip are paid for by the Program. Students stay at the biological research station of Program partner, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation and work side by side with researchers conducting the CCC’s turtle tagging program. Meals in the main dining hall provides the venue for lectures and discussion concerning sea turtle the law and biology of sea turtle conservation. For a visual tour of the CCC’s research station and tagging program visit the CCC’s website at http://www.conserveturtles.org/index.php

Students also participate in a variety of other self-funded and self-organized field trips and each year students have joined an ice-breaking two day rafting trip on the Pacuare, a world class whitewater river flowing through lush rainforest. A mid Program break affords adventurous students the opportunity for more extended travel within Costa Rica or to neighboring countries.