Module LAW3016C for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
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.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. 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 Skills | 4. 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 Skills | 6. 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. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics:
Foundations of Environmental Law and Policy
- Values, Principles and Concepts
- Sources and Institutions
- Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement
- Public Participation and Environmental Rights
Critical Perspectives in Environmental Law and Policy
- Nature Conservation Law
- Air Pollution Regulation
- Climate Law, Policy & Justice
- Marine Governance
- Waste Management
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
32 | 118 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities | 11 | 11 x 1-hour lectures |
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities | 10 | 5 x 2-hour tutor-led seminars |
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities | 5 | 5 x 1-hour student-led or facilitated team meetings |
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities | 6 | Attendance at end-of-term conference |
Guided Independent Study | 25 | General reading for the module |
Guided Independent Study | 40 | Workshop preparation |
Guided Independent Study | 53 | Assessment preparation |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Other Learning Resources
Electronic journals and databases such as EUR-Lex, West law, Lexis Nexis, Hein Online etc.
Those provided for and distributed to the students by the ESI and local environmental initiatives collaborated with.
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Group presentation | 5-minute group presentation on an environmental policy proposal | 1-9 | Group written and oral feedback |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 75 | 2,500 words | 1-8 | Individual written feedback. General feedback highlighting common errors |
Policy Proposal | 25 | 1,500-word policy proposal and oral presentation | 1-9 | Individual written feedback. General feedback highlighting common errors |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Essay (2,500 words) | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Policy Proposal | Policy proposal and presentation (1,500 words) | 1-9 | August/September reassessment period |
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.