Australia & New Zealand: Sustainability & Conservation

Australia & New Zealand
Summer Session I, 2020 (May 28-June 25)

This program is a 3.5-week field experience in New Zealand (North Island) and northeast Queensland, Australia (the Outback, Daintree Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef). By participating in hands-on service learning projects, we will learn about sustainability, ecological restoration and resource conservation in New Zealand’s North Island and Australia’s tropical northeast region. Students will learn through classroom lectures & field trips, and then use their knowledge to assist community groups with long-term ecological research & conservation projects. Educational experiences include:

• Understanding the impacts of human actions on natural systems, and human responses to those changes, using case studies in New Zealand’s North Island & Australia’s northeast Queensland.
• Understanding New Zealand’s & Australia’s natural history, biogeography, ecological diversity, and related social / cultural contexts by visiting national parks and World Heritage areas.
• Gaining hands-on experience with conservation and ecological restoration by participating in service-learning projects. Learn about forest ecosystem conservation, watershed management, riparian zone re-vegetation, estuarine ecosystem management, endangered species monitoring and management, tropical forest ecology, and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park management.
• Learning about indigenous world views, conservation practices, culture and history by interacting with New Zealand Maori and Australian aboriginal communities.

Click here to view the program flyer.

This course was also featured on National Public Radio!

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