An introduction to conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of how to protect and sustain Earth’s biodiversity: the variety of life at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. The course focuses on understanding the processes that threaten living organisms, such as habitat destruction, pollution, overexploitation, climate change, and invasive species, alongside strategies to prevent extinctions and restore damaged ecosystems. Conservation biology is a crisis-oriented and interdisciplinary field, combining ecology, economics, and social sciences. We will consider who pays for conservation, and how trade-offs and co-benefits with human development and climate change mitigation can be identified and reconciled.