ENVS 620 - Topics on African Environmental Issues

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

Fonjweng. Africa is a land of great contrasts and possesses a rich mix of scenic beauty, impressive biodiversity, cultures, economies and history. Almost completely encircled by water and home to a network of some of the world's largest and longest rivers, Africa is also home to two vast and expanding hot deserts. While Africa contains enormous amounts of mineral wealth, it also has fifteen of the world's least developed countries. Its climate ranges from the harsh extremes in hot deserts to the Arctic Current dominated temperate climate of the southern tip of Africa and the pleasant Mediterranean climate of North Africa. Africa's remarkable ecological diversity is unique and is an expression of the varied climates in the continent, with camels in Egypt, Goliath frogs (the largest frogs in the world) in Cameroon and the African penguins in Namibia and South Africa. Africa has extensive fertile grasslands and lush equatorial forests, yet many of its people suffer from hunger and starvation. Despite possessing some of the most scenic and pristine landscapes in the world, poor resource management has resulted in serious environmental problems in various parts of Africa, including air and water pollution, deforestation, loss of soil & soil fertility and a dramatic decline in biodiversity through out the continent. This course aims to explore Africa's natural environment and the impact of human activities on it. Each semester the course will offer an overview of Africa's environment as it relates to one of the following two topics 1) Water issues; 2)Environmental impact of development projects, natural resource extraction and consumption. Each semester, in addition to analyzing one of the above topics, we will pick a couple of case studies from within the US that can be used to show parallels between some of the issues discussed in the African case studies. The students will be asked to conduct research on a relevant topic in any region in Africa for a paper due at the end of the semester.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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