16.7 4th year Professor Michael Webber, Mr Geoff Missen. Normally, entry into the honours program in Environmental Studies First semester Two hours of seminars per week. To assess the ways markets, ethics, legal systems, social groups and state institutions affect environmental use and thereby to impart principles by which rational choices can be made between development and environmental protection. Students should gain an understanding of:

• the physical and ecological capacity of environments to provide economic functions and how different development proposals affect that capacity;
• the concepts of sustainable development and environmental efficiency and their relationships with growth and equity;
• environmental ethics and movements;
• ways of examining conflict between groups and institutions with different interests in the environment and trade-offs involved in conflict resolution;
• the role and the instruments of the state in environmental use and protection.

Economic functions of the environment, environmental valuation and sustainable development. Population, economic growth and environmental efficiency. Examples of exploiting and defending environmental values in Australia and Asia. Class, ethnic and gender interests in the environment under capitalism. The rise of environmentalism. The role of the state in environmental management and state instruments of control (e. g. expenditure, regulation, incentives, taxes). Group and individual reports of up to 4,000 words plus one 2-hour examination. Proportions to be advised.