Teaching about the policy-environment interface: lessons from Brazil

How can political science become more practical and its theoretical concepts more approachable to students? In this paper we reflect on experiential learning through field classes about environmental policy and international environmental policy using lessons learned between 2012-24, with graduate and undergraduate students from Pernambuco, Brazil. Most of the trips were to protected areas, but they also included landfills, rivers, an agroecology farm, an industrial port and estuaries. The purpose of these classes was to connect the experiences in the field to theoretical concepts related to collective action, governance, institutions, socio-ecological systems, political influence and participation, policy implementation, power asymmetries, and effectiveness and to tackle transversal, multidisciplinary topics such as biodiversity, climate change, desertification, food security, land use, ocean grabbing, waste management, etc. We draw on a survey with 47 previous students, which investigates their perception on the field classes, including how trips may have later affected their professional practices.