Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW3016C: Legal Response to Environmental Destruction

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This cross-disciplinary module is designed and delivered in the knowledge that ‘interdisciplinarity’ lies at the heart of future regulatory solutions to environmental challenges. By bringing together both Law and non-Law students across the Cornwall campus, the module provides an exciting opportunity for students to collaborate across disciplines in order to generate genuinely new and innovative regulatory solutions to major environmental challenges. We also aim to promote an end-of-term conference at which your new and innovative regulatory solutions can be presented, leading to genuine opportunities for impact or further outputs from your research.

In terms of the substantive content, the focus is to introduce you to some of the key theories, concepts and issues environmental law and policy, as well as support you in generating new research and ideas in this field. It will therefore offer an overview of basic environmental law principles by considering national and European legal responses to managing global commons, the history of the development of environmental law, and the values and principles that have shaped this newly evolving discipline. The module provides you with an understanding of the contemporary theory, critical issues in, and perspectives on, environmental regulation and policy. It also aims to provide you with a sound grasp of cutting-edge debates surrounding global environmental challenges from biodiversity loss, to air pollution and the climate emergency, to mass pollution, and the challenges of waste and recycling, just as examples.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of aspects of environmental law and policy;
2. Propose and justify changes to environmental law and policy;
3. Critically evaluate key issues and challenges for environmental law and policy.
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Assimilate and engage effectively with a range of primary and secondary legal resources in your legal writing and reasoning;
5. Select, integrate and coherently present relevant legal and non-legal arguments.
Personal and Key Skills6. Collaborate in a team to develop and evaluate interdisciplinary policy strategies for tackling a problem;
7. Distinguish evidence-based claims from unfounded assertions and use evidence to support your own claims and arguments;
8. Demonstrate effective and accurate written communication skills in a manner appropriate to the discipline / different contexts;
9. Demonstrate effective oral communication skills in a manner appropriate to the context.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Essential Text Books:

Bell and McGillivray and Pedersen, Environmental Law (9th edn, OUP 2017)

Recommended Text Books: 

Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, International Law & the Environment (4th edn, OUP 2018)

Fisher, Lange and Scotford, Environmental Law: Text, Cases and Materials (2nd edn, OUP 2019)

Sands and Peel, Principles of International Environmental Law, (4th edn.,CUP 2018)  


Sample Journal Articles & Contributions to Edited Volumes:

N. Gunningham, ‘Enforcing Environmental Regulation’ (2011) Journal of Environmental Law 23 (2): 169-201

S. Humphreys, ‘Competing claims: human rights and climate harms’ in Humphreys (Ed.), Human Rights and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2010) Chapter 1 p37-66.

M. Lee and C, Abbot, ‘The usual suspects? Public participation under the Aarhus Convention’ (2003) 66 Modern Law Review 80- 108.

L. Rajamani, ‘The 2015 Paris Agreement: Interplay Between Hard, Soft and Non-Obligations’ (2016) 28 Journal of Environmental Law 337–358.

C. Reid and W. Nsoh, 'The Privatisation of Biodiversity?' (Edward Elgar, 2016) Chapter 9: Reflections pp.253-260.

A. Venn ‘Social Justice and Climate Change’ in T. M. Letcher (Ed.) Managing Global Warming: An interface between technology and human issues (Elsevier, 2018) Chapter 24 pp.711-723.

Yamineva and Romppanen, ‘Is law failing to address air pollution? Reflections on international and EU developments’ (2017) RECIEL, 26(3) 189-200.