AZA3548 - Environmental policy and resource management - 2019

Environmental policy and resource management: A purposeful activity with the aim to maintain and improve the state of the environment and its resources affected by human activities. It addresses the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment and how to ensure that ecosystem are protected and maintained for equitable use by future human generations, and also, maintain ecosystem integrity as an end in itself by taking into consideration ethical, economic, and scientific (ecological) variables. Issues of governance, policy and regulation are addressed. Themes include the internationalisation of environmental policy, the rise of corporate environmentalism, native title and indigenous rights, and the importance of property rights. Environmental impact assessment, social impact assessment, corporate environmental auditing, state of the environment reporting, and public participation.

1. Understand the social, political and institutional underpinning of environmental policy-making and environmental management;
2. Recognise the importance of maintaining and extending disciplinary perspectives in environmental policy and management;
3. Use case studies to help explain the nature of the evolution and implementation of environmental policies in various national and international settings;
4. Understand the characteristics and role of specific methods and techniques that are used in the context of environmental management and decision making;
5. Formulate and design policy questions amenable to empirical inquiry;
6. To develop skills and knowledge for translating the theory and concepts of resource and environmental management into practice relevant to communities and workplaces today;
7. To apply monitoring and environmental management tools used by resource and environmental practitioners.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Development studies - South Africa

Geography and environmental science - South Africa