NIGK14009U Land Use Transitions in the Global South

The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the dominant contemporary land use transitions taking place in low and middle income countries and discuss how recent advances in land systems science are applied to understand these transitions. Based on theory and case studies, the course explores biophysical, socio-economic as well as institutional aspects of land use and land use change with specific focus on developing causal explanations for land use transitions. The course moreover explores land use transitions within the framework of ongoing international debates related to sustainable development such as economic globalization, large scale land acquisitions and nature conservation as well as local and distant drivers of land-use transitions and geographic displacement of land use in the telecoupled world. Land use planning and issues related to land abandonment and management of land and natural resources in the Global South are also discussed. Overall the course aims at analyzing land use transitions through a range of analytical lenses and methodological approaches, including their ability to develop theory within land system science. Topics of particular interest to the participating students will be identified at the beginning of the course and will receive more in depth attention.