Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course provides an overview of key perspectives and approaches to environmental justice from the literature to help contextualise further study on environmental law topics. In depth coverage of different environmental justice approaches such a 'Third World Approaches to International Law', eco-racism, eco-feminism and queer environmental theory will be provided and applied to real life scenarios to aid understanding of environmental issues and their real-world implications in your research through a socio-legal approach.

10 x 2 hour face-to-face seminars in semester 1.

The course is open to all LLM students subject to the requirements of the LLM programme to which a student is enrolled.

None

None

Assessment of this course consists of two parts:

The first written assessment will be a critical annotated bibliography of methodology for a research question (ILO 1, 2, 3) of 2000 words and worth 30% of their grade. A selection of research questions will be provided by the lecturer. Students will select one of these questions, creating an annotated bibliography outlining their methodological choices. This will help students in their own research design, gaining experience on research methodology and literature reviews (ILO 2, 3).

The second written assessment will be a 2000 written essay question critiquing an environmental justice approach of their choosing and be worth 70% of their grade (ILO 1), with a 1000 word reflection on the development of their understanding of environmental justice approaches over the course and how this has influenced their understanding of environmental law methodologies in research. This will provide practice for the in depth level of critical evaluation required of different environmental justice approaches to apply in future research completed by the student, eg dissertation (ILO1, 2, 3).

The aim of this course is to provide you with grounding key environmental justice approaches to support you in the methodological development of environmental law research. In depth coverage of different environmental justice approaches such as 'Third World Approaches to International Law', eco-racism, eco-feminism and queer environmental theory will be provided and applied to different legal and cultural contexts to aid understanding of environmental issues and their implications on marginalised groups in your research. The course will also provide you with practical methodology skills to enable you to apply theoretical knowledge and practical methodologies to real-world legal and policy challenges. Overall, the course aims to foster critical thinking on the role of law in achieving environmental justice by addressing environmental inequalities from diverse perspectives.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Apply a critical understanding of principal theories, concepts and principles underpinning environmental justice approaches to different environmental issues

2. Develop this critical understanding to select and evaluate environmental justice methodology in the design of research

3. Communicate methodology in the execution of research in light of the complex ethical issues in environmental law research methodologies and their impact on marginalised groups

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.