Course info

EnvStud 712 – Colonization and Environment in Central America

Content:

Lowland Settlement and Environmental Impacts in Central America. Dangers of Misdirected Policies in Land Settlement. Role of the Current Study. The Colonization Areas. The Process of Colonization in Central America. Land Settlement and Land Reform. The Dynamics of Land Settlement and Land Use. Patterns of Land Clearance. Ecological Regions of Central America. People and Land. Case studies: Colonization in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala.

Course Lecturer: Gerhard Berchtold, PhD

ECTS credits: 6

Coursebook:

Colonization and Environment: Land Settlement Projects in Central America

Jeffrey R. Jones

© The United Nations University, 1990
United Nations University Press
The United Nations University
53-70 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150, Japan
Typeset by Asco Trade Typesetting Limited, Hong Kong
Printed by Permanent Typesetting and Printing Co. Ltd., Hong Kong
Cover design by Tsuneo Taniuchi

NRTS-32/UNUP-653
ISBN 92-808-0653-x
United Nations Sales No. E.90.III.A.5
03000 P

This book is the result of a study carried out under the United Nations University Project on Resource Use of Frontiers and Pioneer Settlements. A major aim of the project was to determine the ecological impact of pioneer settlement; specifically, which settlement patterns minimize the destructive effects on the environment. The project included an appraisal of the economic, political, and cultural factors bearing on frontier settlement, and an examination of the different interdependent variables involved from biophysical parameters to government action and policies- to discover which combination of these factors are likely to result in successful settlements.

The project (1983-1987) included in its activities several international symposia and indepth case-studies of pioneer settlement areas in the humid tropics of Africa, Asia, Central and South America.

Colonization and Environment: Land Settlement Projects in Central America presents the findings of a study undertaken in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama of patterns of tropical land colonization and government policies and management practices regarding land settlement.