Environmental Justice (12102.1)

This unit considers the unequal impacts of environmental harm, the diverse ways that environmental injustice is experienced by different groups in society, and the strategies and tactics different actors adopt to challenge it. The unit also examines key theories and ethical perspectives on environmental justice, and how these influence law and policy. It is especially focused on the intersection of social justice and environmental sustainability, and related questions of relationality and Indigenous perspectives. Students will have the opportunity to critically evaluate real world case studies relating to issues such as climate change, poverty, human rights, war, and displacement, and to consider the complexities and policy dilemmas raised by environmental injustice.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Outline the impacts of environmental and climate change and synthesise the implications for justice;
2. Examine key theoretical perspectives and ethical implications of environmental justice;
3. Critically reflect on the relationships between environmental justice and related political and policy debates, including Indigenous perspectives; and
4. Critically evaluate environmental justice case studies

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
4. UC graduates are able to demonstrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing - use Indigenous histories and traditional ecological knowledge to develop and augment understanding of their discipline

Skills development

Environmental justice is one of the most rapidly evolving areas of legal scholarship and practice, drawing together case law, legal theory, doctrine and emerging regulatory developments with insights from political theory, ethics and Indigenous knowledge systems. As climate change accelerates and its harms fall unevenly across communities, courts, legislatures and policymakers are increasingly called upon to respond, through litigation, regulatory reform, and evolving doctrines of standing, causation and liability, as well as through recognition of relational approaches to land and country. Contemporary environmental justice practice engages emerging challenges including climate litigation, corporate accountability for environmental and human rights harms, and the capacity of existing legal frameworks to address diffuse, transboundary and intergenerational harm. This unit equips students with the cross-disciplinary analytical skills to work across these registers, reading case law and legal doctrine alongside theoretical and ethical frameworks, developing capabilities directly relevant to legal practice, policy work and advocacy in this fast-moving field

Prerequisites

Must have passed 36 credit points

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.