Environmental Law (LAWS70068)

Intended learning outcomes

This subject will provide an examination of the development and current scope of Australian environmental law, with a focus on the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) and related state environmental assessment laws (eg the Environmental Effects Act 1978 (Vic)) and pollution control legislation (eg the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic)). There will be also an introduction to international environmental law.

Principal topics will include:

• Greater diversity in environmental law approaches, including integration with other regulatory areas which could include planning, natural resource management, water use and indigenous land management, and the use of financial measures and economic instruments in regulation.
• The growing importance of international law, with the recognition that environmental protection issues cross territorial and regulatory boundaries
• Greater integration between relevant disciplines concerned with environmental protection

These themes will be illustrated by case studies, which could be situated within the following areas:

• Ecologically sustainable development and changing conceptions of the ‘environment’
• Environmental actors, including public interest litigation
• The range of legal and regulatory tools used in environmental law, including market mechanisms such as emissions trading schemes.
• The interaction of law and science, with a focus on the precautionary principle
• Integration and complexity challenges in implementing environmental law with a focus on biodiversity protection
• International law trends including trade and environment and trans-boundary harms.