People, Power and Food The Global Seminar Titti Schmidt, PhD Department of Cultural Anthropology

What is Global Seminar? The Global Seminar is a learning community of students and faculty from around the world who study key global issues, simultaneously and interactively.   Fully interactive technology

The goal of Global Seminar The goal is to prepare future leaders and citizens to articulate policy agendas that will lead to a sustainable environment.

The Global Seminar  International 50 institutions in six continents, several clusters of 4-7 institutions.  Interdisciplinary School of Resource Management Institute of Land and Food Resources, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Escuela Agricola, Department of Food Science, etc.

The International Approach Our cluster (5 countries)  Uppsala University, Sweden  EARTH University, Costa Rica  Beijing National University (BNU), China  The University of Melbourne, Australia  Zamorano University, Honduras

The Interdisciplinary Approach Dimensions of sustainability:  ecological  social/cultural  political and legal  technical  economic

“Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” “Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (The Brundtland Report, the World Council on Environment and Development, 1987) (The Brundtland Report, the World Council on Environment and Development, 1987)

A climate for change: Sustainability and Sustainable Development The first four Case Studies week  Sustainability  Water security  GMO for food security  Biodiversity  Social or Ecotourism Studentportalen and Blackboard (the University ofMelbourne)

The Case Study Your understanding of the case study should lead to a decision!

The Global Seminar Model

Course Structure The case study sequence: (week 3-13)  Lecture/seminar  Seminar/discussion  Video-conferences  Blackboard/skype - interaction  Written reports: reflective essays

Your work... (week 3 -13)  Choose a case study (prioritize cases according to interest)  Discuss with the students at the other sites on the Blackboard  Compile and prepare  Present the result to your local class  Present on the videoconference  Written report(s) – reflective essays

Your Contribution  What kind of problem is this?  What information do you want to contribute with?  How will you get this information?  Who will do what?  Time plan for the project?  When will you meet next?

Reflective Essays  Use the literature/lecture/discussion board/VC (reference correctly)  Discuss the subject critically and reach an independent conclusion moving beyond the literature  (Reflective essays (max. 3 pages) on the following case studies: Sustainability, Water security, GMO and food security, Biodiversity, Social or Ecotourism.)

Grading  The written work (50%)  Activity during the seminars (10 %)  Videoconference presentation (10%)  The discussion board, student interaction (20%)  Local (class) presentations (10%)

 Increase the understanding of complex problems of sustainability.  Increase practical skills in working in international problem-solving teams.

Assignment for the first week  Your name and  Read the material on sustainability and the case study document Assignment for the second week  Continue reading  Register: Blackboard  Ecological footprint  Prepare for the videoconference, the class helping the case study group to collect the information needed

Today: prioritize case studies according to interest (choose among): Sustainability Water security GMO for food security Biodiversity Social or Ecotourism

Read the following documents : The case study on Sustainability Understanding sustainability by Neil Carter, Cambridge University Press at: National Inventory Report 2011 Sweden at: forandring/statistik/2010/NIR-submission-2011.pdf Extensive reading: The living Planet Report, WWF at: