Far off the tourist trail, Bolivia is on the front lines of modern conservation challenges. Spanning from the tropical Amazonian forest to temperate highlands to the high Andes mountains, it is biologically and geographically one of the most diverse countries on earth. This course will engage us in many of the great political and conservation challenges faced by Bolivia and the world. We will visit five areas facing starkly different challenges. Road building and extraction industries face off with traditional lifestyles and biodiversity conservation in an indigenous homeland and national park in the tropical lowlands. Access to water and urban development are issues in Cochabamba, the site of the 2000 “water war.” Lithium extraction and ecotourism challenge the highlands around the great Salar de Uyuni salt flat. And melting glaciers, a consequence of climate change, imperil high Andes communities who find themselves without a source of water. From lowland flooding to highland drought, climate change and the tension between sustainable and extractive development will shape our understanding of the conservation challenges in this changing land.