Students take a walk in the wetlands during winter break course
Students in Professor Royal Gardner’s winter break course took a walk through a cypress swamp and camped in the Western Everglades earlier this month. Stetson offered the intersessional course, “Topics in Biodiversity Law: The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,” Jan. 5-9.
Stetson Law students walked through wetlands in Big Cypress National Preserve as part of a winter break course on biodiversity law. Photo by 3L Joshua Moses.
Students in the course learned about the international efforts to protect wetlands, including the swamps, bogs, marshes and other aquatic ecosystems that provide habitat to endangered species and multiple benefits to people.
“Very few law school classes can actually take you outside of the classroom to get your feet dirty in a place existing largely due to the laws working to protect it,” said student Joshua Moses.
Professor Royal Gardner, director of Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy and an expert in wetlands policy, taught the class.
Professor Gardner is presently chair of the Ramsar Convention’s scientific advisory body. He has participated in Ramsar meetings across the globe: in Canada, Korea, Mexico, Oman, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Uganda and the United States. The Ramsar Convention is an environmental treaty with 168 countries that promotes the conservation of wetlands worldwide.
Stetson’s Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy serves as an interdisciplinary focal point for education, research and service activities related to global, regional and local biodiversity issues. The institute coordinates courses, seminars and internships on a variety of topics, including wetland law and policy, environmental law, natural resources and international environmental law.
Post date: Jan. 28, 2015
Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
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