Governing Environments (ENVS10005)

Natural and built environments and their resources have been the source of conflicting claims over rights of access, ownership and use. These contests have in turn led to the creation of a wide range of approaches to regulate such claims. In this subject students will be introduced to the ecological and economic theories and practices that relate to the use and management of natural resources and built environments and to the approaches governments use to resolve the conflicts that arise.
Topics will include:

• An introduction to the similarities and differences between the ecological and economic paradigms that affect the environment
• Understanding the need for government intervention
• An explanation of Public Choice theory
• The development of policies and instruments (laws, regulations, agreements, spending on education programs and market-based instruments) and institutions for effective policy implementation
• Case studies on the built environment, land and water, forests, marine environments and global warming will be used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of different governance models and their application