Biodiversity Law (LAWS90147)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
August
Teaching staff:
David Takacs (Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | August |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
Conservation biologists warn that we are in the midst of a great extinction crisis. Biodiversity Law is an emerging field, examining legal regimes designed to conserve Earth’s endangered forms of life. We will voyage to foreign intellectual lands – e.g. environmental ethics, conservation biology – and take a few real voyages to see biodiversity law in action. We will examine the nuts and bolts of Australian and foreign legal regimes with an attempt to discern most effective legal practices to conserve biodiversity, grounding our analyses in in-depth case studies. Our investigations will be framed by two overarching questions: What is the legal framework for preserving life on Earth? What should be the components of the legal framework for preserving life on Earth?
Indicative list of principal topics:
- A short primer on principles of environmental ethics and conservation biology and how these principles inform the practice of Biodiversity Law;
- Understanding the threats to biodiversity the law must confront;
- In-depth study of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) to understand how this law interacts with Australian State and Territorial law to protect biodiversity;
- Consideration of Australian court cases that have interpreted the EPBC’s (and other biodiversity protective legal) provisions as applied to threatened species and ecosystems;
- Comparative studies of United States, South Africa, and other national legal approaches to, and court decisions on, biodiversity conservation;
- Attention to Australian (and foreign) biodiversity facing particular challenges (Great Barrier Reef, isolated marsupial populations, cetaceans) and how the law is (or is not) meeting those challenges;
- Analysis of the Convention on Biological Diversity,and other international treaties including how they are implemented in domestic law;
- In-depth case study on global wildlife poaching and smuggling;
- Discussion of “ownership” of biodiversity, including the rights that indigenous populations have to biodiversity;
- Discussion of market mechanisms designed to incentivize biodiversity conservation;
- Examination of non-legal means to preserve biodiversity;
- Synthesis of best practices for how to preserve and steward life on Earth.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will be able to:
- Understand and critique with sophistication the ethical frameworks underlying laws to preserve life on Earth;
- Explain the basic tenets of conservation biology and how those tenets inform biodiversity law;
- Be able to critically analyse, interpret, and assess how the law does and does not successfully confront multiple, interconnected threats to biodiversity;
- Name the primary tenets of the EPBC and assess in detail how Australia's flagship conservation law addresses threats to biodiversity;
- Analyse with sophistication how the EPBC works in coordination with State and Territorial law to protect biodiversity;
- Critically reflect on the legal strengths and weaknesses of an "endangered species" approach to managing biodiversity;
- Explain and be able to apply the primary tenets of international agreements to conserve biodiversity
- For a given biological entity (e.g. a particular population, species, ecosystem), be able to assess in detail how domestic and international law do or do not work together to provide a safety net for that biological unit;
- Critically evaluate the role of market mechanisms for preserving biodiversity;
- Explain and interpret in practice the legal rights that indigenous peoples possess to use or benefit from biodiversity;
- Cite pertinent, foreign domestic legal protections for biodiversity protection, and critique these as models for how other nations, including Australia, might manage biodiversity resources;
- Analyze the role climate change plays in affecting biodiversity, and critically reflect upon how legal regimes are or are not accounting for biodiversity's future in a changing climate;
- Analyze and assess the role that NGOs, corporations, and International Financial Institutions play in Biodiversity Law;
- Synthesize and derive complex, integrated legal prescriptions for how we should construct a legal regime to preserve life on Earth.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are taught at an advanced graduate level and requires a thorough background in common law. While efforts are made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, teaching and assessment activities are designed to give an advanced and integrated understanding of the discipline of law for legal practitioners, learners and researchers.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Class participation | Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Class presentation
| During the teaching period | 10% |
Research paper on topic to be agreed with subject coordinator.
| 5 November 2025 | 80% |
| Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance is required. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- August
Principal coordinator David Takacs Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 34 Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 30 July 2025 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 27 August 2025 to 2 September 2025 Last self-enrol date 4 August 2025 Census date 29 August 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 10 October 2025 Assessment period ends 14 November 2025 August contact information
Teaching staff:
David Takacs (Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters enrolment webpage for further information about re-enrolment, subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If subject coordinator approval is required, or for further information about Community Access Program study, please contact us
(enquiries for current students | enquiries for prospective students). - Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025