Description

The course will give an overview of public policy tools and how those can be applied to solve some of the issues that arise when managing coastal and marine areas. Students will analyse complex policy issues and explore the conflicts that often arise due to competing interests of various stakeholders in coastal and marine areas and the tension between short-term interests of specific groups and long-term interests of the community. Both policy instruments and different types of policy processes will be covered and students will engage in interactive exercises to gain a fuller understanding of policy processes. The course also gives an overview of international instruments (conventions, declarations, etc.) that are relevant for coastal and marine areas and explores the interactions between international conventions, domestic legal frameworks and policies at the international, national and local level. The course will use examples from several countries to compare and contrast national coastal and ocean policies in different parts of the world.

Learning outcomes

• Students will gain a systematic understanding of the role of policy in the sustainable management of coastal and marine areas.
• Students will be able to analyse complex policy issues related to coastal and marine areas, including mapping the interests of the various stakeholders.
• Students will be able to provide solid policy recommendations that take into account the interests of stakeholders as well as the long-term interests of the general public.

Assessment

Participation in a role-playing exercise and a journal (2-3 pages) describing the experience (30%). Final paper where students choose a case study where they analyse policy issues related to the management of a specific coastal or marine area, map out stakeholder interests and provide policy recommendations for sustainable management of the area (70%).

Instructor

Auður H. Ingólfsdóttir's (Iceland) earned her BA from the University of Washington, Washington, (USA) and her MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston (USA) in international relations with a specialization in Environment and Resource Policy. She has worked for the University of Iceland, coordinating a master's program in environmental studies, as a special advisor in the international office of the Ministry for the Environment, and as an environmental consultant. For the last two years she has worked for international missions in Sri Lanka and in the western Balkans as an expert from the Icelandic Crisis Response Unit of the Foreign Ministry.

Guest lecturer

Further reading