This subject introduces students to the major areas of contestation in global environmental politics. It maps the emerging global framework for addressing environmental problems and examines the key claims of environmental movements and their critics. This involves examining the main environmental controversies in the Australian and global contexts, including climate change, biotechnology, energy generation, whaling, forests, water, and the tensions between trade liberalisation and environmental protection. The main premise of the subject is to demonstrate the ways in which emerging environmental actors, interests and agendas challenge the basic norms and institutions of a system of global governance underpinned by sovereign states and global economic institutions.

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