This course is offered by the ANU College of Law to non-law students who are interested in environmental issues and are in the later years of their program.  It is usually taken as an out of college course.  In this regard, students should check their degree requirements before enrolling to ensure that the course may be counted as part of their degree.

The course seeks to examine environmental law from theoretical, contextual, and practical perspectives, taking a broad national and thematic approach rather than annotating the law of one jurisdiction.  The course will examine the sources of environmental law, looking at the roles of the common law, of statutes and the growing importance of international law.  The course will explore environmental regulation, including planning and licensing systems; environmental decision-making, including environmental impact assessment processes and exceptions to the usual decision-making process; enforcement of environmental controls through criminal and civil means and alternative sanctions; human rights and the rise of environmental rights, and environmental participation, protest and litigation.  The course will also look at philosophical and ethical bases for environmental protection and conservation, as well as an examination of the roles of scientific evidence and environmental values in environmental decision-making.

A research paper (on a topic of the student's choice) worth 50% of the student's final mark and a take-home exam worth 50% of the student's final mark.