Sustainability Cases
Below are preview videos of the cases from Public Policy Case Collection. For access to the full video and written case material, you must enter an access password.
This case examines the history of the world’s most famous and success privately run parks – New York’s Central Park and the High Line. With exclusives interviews with government officials and green space activists, it explores the controversies and policy issues surrounding the use of private funds to fund public spaces.
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Filmed on location in Ghana and USA, this report examines the debate on "conservation agriculture" and global warming. Can techniques such as "no-till farming" work in a developing country such as Ghana? Can they help sequester carbon from the atmosphere and help solve global warming? Dramatic aerial footage from USA and Africa helps illustrate this issue.
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This spring 2019 Capstone project explores how off-grid solar technology is changing the energy landscape in Uganda. It follows SIPA researchers as they work with local solar energy startups, and explores the issues surrounding creating successful businesses designed to serve poor and offline clients.
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Climate and Food Security in Vietnam – This summer 2018 MPA-DP summer placement profiles the field work of two SIPA researchers in Vietnam, as they explore the role of climate variability in food production. Their work is part of one of the first Columbia World Projects, and connects to similar research underway in five other countries.
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This Columbia University audiovisual case study explores the history of rice cultivation in Cambodia before, during, and after the Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields” of the late 1970s. It details agricultural preservation efforts undertaken by different organizations to answer the practical question of how biodiversity can be preserved even in regions devastated by conflict, as well as the implications it holds for other international development groups working in similar situations.
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This spring 2018 Capstone project looks at two private rainforest reserves in Costa Rica. It explores Costa Rica’s innovative “climate services” program, the debate on forests’ role in climate change mitigation, and the international voluntary carbon credit market.
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