Conservation Clinic
Costa Rica Study Abroad 2009
Project Spotlight: Green Building in the Green Republic
Many of Costa Rica's most pressing issues are developed country issues; yet Costa Rica is not fully developed. Real estate development and land use planning represent today's concerns; yet Costa Rica's regulatory framework for land use decision-making remains in its infancy. For the past 2 years U.S. and Costa Rican law faculty and students at the University of Florida/University of Costa Rica Joint Program in Environmental Law have been exploring the fertile area of comparative land use and growth management law.
In 2009, students in the Program's conservation clinic examined the emergence of green building and other approaches to sustainable development in the built environment in Costa Rica. University of Colorado law student Kelly Crandall researched the emergence of the green building movement in Costa Rica and examined the role that green building certification programs developed in the U.S. and Europe could play in Costa Rica's distinctly different tropical building environment. Other students and faculty working on the project examined the role of deed restrictions in the civil law system and low impact approaches to stormwater management in the urban landscape. Crandall and her colleagues presented their results to a group of professionals at Costa Rica's Colegio Federated de Ingenieros y Architectos.
Resources:
- Crandall, K. (J.D. Candidate, U. Colo. Law,) Green Building in the Green Republic (2008) (.pdf, 124KB)
- Ruiz, Mauricio (M.S. Candidate, UF Building Construction) , Zamora, Jeffrey (Candidato Licensiatura, UCR Law), Mehlmann, Dana (P.E., J.D. Candidate, UF Law), Seales, Lisa (PhD. Candidate, UF Interdisc. Ecology) & Ruppert, Thomas (Visiting Assistant in, IFAS/UF Law "Sustainable Urban Development: Voluntary Regulation, Incentives for Green Construction and Stormwater Management: Sharing the Experience of Florida and Projecting its Application in Costa Rica." (.ppt, 30MB; Spanish only)
Other 2008 Clinic Projects:
- Sharbaugh, Kevin (J. D. Candidate), UF Law, Herrera Ugarte, Mariana (Candidata Licensiatura UCR Law), Developing a Regulatory Framework for Finfish Aquaculture in Central America."(.pdf, 535KB) (Forthcoming 2009, National Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal)(In cooperation with AIDA – the Inter-American Alliance for the Defense of the Environment).
- Takayma, Juliana (Escritorio Juridico, UFMT Brazil), Loren Gomes, Nayla (Escritoro Juridico UFMT Brazil), Ovares Sanchez, Carolina (Candidata Licensiatura UCR Law) Willson, Michael J.D. Candidate, UF Law, "Environmental Service Payments and Forest Certification in Mato Grosso, Brazil: A Model State Law Project for the Brazilian Amazon." (2008)