UES 277 Climate Change and Water Management - Panama

For this assignment, you will pick an ecosystem, natural resource, or economic sector topic that will be affected by climate change (specific forest, type of agriculture, specific river, irrigation, etc.).

You are going to create a concept map based on your chosen topic and its relationship with climate change. A concept is a general idea or notion formed about a particular thing.  A concept map is a visual representation of your understanding of the different relationships associated with that concept. You will be linking concepts with an arrow.  The direction of the arrow and the word/phrase assigned to each arrow should represent that link or relationship.  Following the development of your concept map, you will video tape yourself presenting your concept map for up to 5 minutes. Be sure to upload your presentation to Moodle in addition to your map.

Your map MUST include the following:

1) climate change impact(s) on/for your topic (positive and/or negative)

2) ecosystem services of your topic (all 3 or 4 if you choose to separate supporting services)

3) valuation of your topic (what types of value apply)

4) Economics of your topic (market presence, impact on human well-being)

It is up to you how you choose to illustrate your map, but I highly recommend that you use a computer application or Powerpoint to create your concept map and then print it.

I have provided an example attached to this assignment.

Each student will spend approximately 5 minutes sharing their concept map with the class.

You will be graded on the following:

1) All information included - 15 points

2) Concepts/relationships accurately represented - 10 points

3) Visual organization and creativity - 10 points

4) Clear explanation of your topic - 5 points