Tropical Forest Landscapes 101: Conservation & Restoration

Conserving and restoring tropical forest landscapes offers an opportunity to address pressing environmental and social challenges. Effective conservation and restoration initiatives support multiple objectives, including ecosystem functioning, climate change mitigation and adaptation, food security, and economic growth.

This seven-week course explores the technical, social, and funding aspects of this timely topic. You will learn:1. The importance of tropical forest landscapes and the actors and motivations driving restoration and conservation efforts.
2. How tropical forest ecosystems work, and how they relate to climate change and biodiversity.
3. Fundamental human dimensions to consider in any project, including human livelihoods and local property rights.
4. Conservation theory and dynamic aspects of conserving species and landscapes.
5. A spectrum of restoration strategies and key considerations for restoration, such as species selection and planting design.
6. How agroforestry systems can integrate trees and production to meet different goals.
7. Basic financial concepts and potential sources of conservation and restoration funding.

The materials in this course offer a selection of key content from the Yale School of the Environment and Yale Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative’s yearlong Tropical Forest Landscapes: Conservation, Restoration & Sustainable Use online certificate program.