Course overview
The course will provide a critical survey of the contemporary field of environmental policy, planning and management in the Australian and international contexts. The course is centrally concerned with understanding deliberate efforts to translate environmental knowledge into action in order to achieve particular outcomes in the way landscapes, societies and/or natural ecosystems are used and managed. It will also consider how the objectives for land and resource use are shaped, fashioned and contested in democratic and non-democratic settings. The course will introduce students to the dominant management models that have been applied historically. This work will set the scene for an analysis of contemporary approaches to environmental policy making, planning and management. The course will critically examine contemporary thinking on these environmental themes including: sustainable use practices, political-ecology, decentralised environmental management, NGO and community-based approaches, social learning, and regional and urban planning. A feature of the course's examination of contemporary approaches will be in-depth critical analyses of prominent cases of environmental management, including Regional Forest Agreements and the Murray Darling Basin Authority in the Australian context, and the emerging international environmental challenges for climate change adaptation, agro-ecosystems, biodiversity conservation and megacities.
Course learning outcomes
- Understand environmental management approaches in Australia and internationally.
- Analyse environmental management in relation to the major principles of sustainable development, defined broadly as: Biodiversity conservation; The Precautionary Principle; Economic sustainability; Intragenerational equity; and Intergenerational equity.
- Translate generic concepts and methods into critical reviews of contemporary, real-world environmental management practices.
- Critically assess theoretical and conceptual issues relating to environmental management utilising dialectical analysis approaches.
- Present synthesised and critically evaluated information in oral and written forms.
- Create environmental management analysis outputs of professional quality, both independently and within team environments.
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The Student Contribution amount displayed below is for students commencing a new program from 2021 onwards. If you are continuing in a program you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, or are commencing an Honours degree relating to an undergraduate degree you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, you may be charged a different Student Contribution amount from the amount displayed below. Please check the Student Contribution bands for continuing students here. If you are an international student, or a domestic student studying in a full fee paying place, and are continuing study that you commenced in 2025 or earlier, your fees will be available here before enrolments open for 2026.