Option 2: Global Environmental Protection



Legal Studies HSC Program: Global Environmental Protection

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|Option 2: Global Environmental Protection 25% of course time (7-8 weeks) | |

|Principal focus: Through the use of contemporary examples, students investigate the effectiveness of legal and non-legal processes in promoting and |

|achieving environmental protection. |

 

|Outcomes |

|H1. identifies and applies legal concepts and terminology |

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|H2. describes and explains keys features of and the relationship between Australian and international law |

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|H3. analyses the operation of domestic and international legal systems |

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|H4. evaluates the effectiveness of the legal system in addressing issues |

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|H5. explains the role of law in encouraging cooperation and resolving conflict, as well as initiating and responding to change |

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|H6. assesses the nature of the interrelationship between the legal system and society |

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|H7. evaluates the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice |

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|H8. locates, selects, organises, synthesises and analyses legal information from a variety of sources including legislation, cases, media, international instruments and documents |

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|H9. communicates legal information using well-structured and logical arguments. |

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|H10. analyses differing perspectives and interpretations of legal information and issues |

 

|Themes and challenges to be incorporated throughout the topic: |

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|the impact of state sovereignty on international cooperation and the resolution of conflict in regard to environmental protection |

|issues of compliance and non-compliance |

|the impact of changing values and ethical standards on environmental protection |

|the role of law reform in protecting the global environment |

|the effectiveness of legal and non-legal responses in protecting the environment. |

 

|Assessment: Media File analysis of contemporary global environmental issue |

| Students learn about: | Students learn to: |Suggested teaching and learning strategies | Themes and challenges |

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|1. The nature of global | | | |

|environmental protection | | | |

| | |Introduction to topic: get student ideas on global environmental protection and what they think it means. Using | |

|the definition of global | |media reports to highlight issues, define global environmental protection. Discuss reasons for increased | |

|environmental protection | |environmental protection over time. Create a mindmap to convey the key concepts and ideas. | |

| |define global environmental |Resources: New Internationalist, Sydney Morning Herald, National Geographic, Greenpeace, Epoch Times | |

| |protection | | |

|the development of global | |Group activity: Assign each group one piece of major legislation/one major event associated with global | |

|environmental law | |environmental protection to research and make a short summary of. Then construct a basic timeline of global | |

| |outline the development of |environmental law from the Stockholm Conference to the present adding a brief description from the groups to the | |

| |global environmental law |timeline. Each group is to briefly speak about their research. | |

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| | |Resources: | |

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| | |Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW) | |

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| | |Stockholm Declaration | |

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| | |Earth Summit 1992 | |

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| | |Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer 1985 | |

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| | |Rio Declaration | |

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| | |UN Framework Convention on Climate Change | |

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| | |UN Convention on Biodiversity | |

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| | |Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources 1982 | |

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| | |Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) | |

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| | |Class discussion of the need for global environmental protection. Why is it | |

|the need for global | |necessary? Discuss the role of the law in protecting the environment and promoting | |

|environmental protection |outline the need for laws to |sustainable development. | |

| |protect the global | | |

| |environment |Divide the class into two teams and conduct a debate on whether the global environmental laws have been effective | |

| | |in protecting the environment. | |

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|the importance of ecologically | |Powerpoint presentation on ecologically sustainable development, biodiversity, intergenerational equity, | |

|sustainable development: | |intragenerational equity, the precautionary principle and relate these concepts to media reports and videos. | |

|biodiversity, intergenerational| |Students are to discuss and make notes on the importance of each concept. | |

|equity, intragenerational | | | |

|equity, the precautionary | |Activity: Test student understanding of each concept by playing celebrity heads and getting students to guess the | |

|principle | |terms. Or get two students to ‘compete’ against each other in being the first to correctly write the meaning of | |

| | |the term on the board when called out by the teacher. | |

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| | |Resources: | |

| | |esa/dsd | |

| | |.au | |

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| | | |the impact of changing values|

| | | |and ethical standards on |

| | | |environmental protection |

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| | | |issues of compliance and |

| | | |non-compliance |

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|2. Responses to | | |the impact of state |

|global | | |sovereignty in encouraging |

|environmental | | |cooperation and resolving |

|protection | | |conflict in regard to |

| | |Compile a media file about global environmental issues. |environmental protection |

|The roles of: | |Discuss the media reports and the problems associated with sovereignty and the link with the concept of political | |

|nation state and state |examine the role of |will. |issues of compliance and |

|sovereignty |sovereignty in assisting and | |non-compliance |

| |impeding the resolution of |Mindmap: As a class, create a mindmap of when nation states are likely to comply with international law and when | |

| |global environmental |not. | |

| |protection  issues | | |

| | |Discuss reasons for compliance and non-compliance with international law, and get students to do some internet | |

| | |research of case studies, such as Australia’s support of fishing regulations and whaling, but non-compliance in | |

| | |other issues. Also look at Japan’s non-compliance to whaling laws. And Australia’s debate on Emissions Trading | |

| | |Scheme. | |

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| | |Resources | |

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| | |International Regulation on Whaling: | |

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| | |Illegal Japanese whaling in Australian Antarctic Waters case: | |

| | |Humane Society International Inc v Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd [2008] FCA 3 | |

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| | |whaling | |

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| | |Emissions Trading Scheme: | |

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|the United Nations |outline the structure and |Visit to investigate the United Nations Environmental programs. Research the role of the |the role of law reform in |

| |function of the United |General Assembly in environmental issues. |protecting the global |

| |Nations in relation to | |environment |

| |environmental protection | | |

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| | |Ensure that the class timeline has international instruments and conferences highlighted. | |

| | | |the effectiveness of legal |

|international instruments | |Discuss the effectiveness of these instruments and conferences (due to the limitations placed on them by |and non-legal responses in |

| | |sovereignty), and suggest reasons for limits to their effectiveness. Conduct a class debate on whether |protecting the environment |

| | |international instruments and conferences are effective in bringing about change and increased global | |

| | |environmental protection or awareness. | |

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| | |Six Thinking Hats activity: | |

| | |Provide students with stimulus material on the 2009 Copenhagen Conference and divide them into six groups with | |

| | |each group analysing the information from the perspective of their hat: | |

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| | |White – facts/information | |

| | |Green – creativity; developing new ideas. What are the alternatives? | |

| | |Red – emotions; how does the group feel about the situation? | |

| | |Yellow – advantages; what are the positive outcomes? | |

|courts and conferences | |Black – disadvantages; what are the negative outcomes? | |

| | |Blue – future; what are the future possibilities? Where to from here? | |

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| | |Resources: | |

| | |Copenhagen Climate Change Conference 2009 | |

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| | |Kyoto Protocol | |

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| | |Research the effectiveness of the International Court of Justice in global | |

| | |environmental issues. | |

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| | |Resources: | |

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|intergovernmental organisations| | Undertake a web quest of the variety of global and regional intergovernmental and | |

| | |non-government organisations that advocate global environmental protection. |the impact of changing values|

| | |eea.europa.eu |and ethical standards on |

| | |National Environment Protection Council |environmental protection |

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| | |Visit the world heritage website to discuss the protection of global environments on the world heritage list. | |

| | |Discuss the criteria for selection and what measures are taken to protect these environments. Is litigation an | |

| | |effective measure in protecting world heritage areas? | |

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| | |In groups, students prepare a poster to be presented to the class | |

|non-government organisations | |describing the aims and methods of a major NGO eg: | |

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| | |Greenpeace .au | |

| | |World Wildlife Fund | |

| | |The Wilderness Society .au | |

| | |Friends of the earth Australia .au | |

| | |Planet ark | |

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| | |Students to read and make notes from article on global warming: | |

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|media | |What is the role of the media in raising awareness of global environmental issues? | |

| | |Examine the issues that attract media attention. | |

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| | |Eg. Coal ship run aground in Great Barrier Reef and subsequent media attention. Refer to below for several media | |

| | |articles: | |

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| | |Significant media attention in relation to Earth Hour: | |

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| | |Investigate the impact of the division of powers on environmental protection in Australia. In groups of 4-5, | |

|Australia’s federal structure | |choose one case of Australian environmental protection, and develop a poster displaying the information from the | |

| |explain the effects of |case. Groups will then present their findings to the class. (Class time will be given to conduct research using | |

| |Australia’s federal structure|the internet, books, etc. and put poster together). | |

| |in responding to global | | |

| |environmental protection |Franklin Dam Case: Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983) 158 CLR 1 | |

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| | |Refer to Peel, Jacqueline; Godden, Lee --- "Australia Environmental Management: A 'Dams' Story" [2005] UNSWLawJl| |

| |evaluate the effectiveness of|41; (2005) 28(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal 668 | |

| |legal and non-legal measures | |

| |in protecting the global |ions%20AND%20treaty%20AND%20pollution for more information on environmental law and dams. | |

| |environment | | |

| | |Discuss problems of protecting the environment that arise because of the different levels of government in | |

| | |Australia and the ability of the federal government to enact laws under Section 51. Note problems of protecting | |

| | |the environment with different elected government’s responses to international instruments such as the Kyoto | |

| | |Protocol. | |

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| | |Resources: | |

| | |.au | |

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| | |Discuss prosecution measures in protecting the global environment. Students to find one media article in relation | |

| | |to this and write an analysis of the effectiveness of the law in protecting the environment. Class discussion of | |

| | |research. | |

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| | |Eg. | |

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| | |Also, discuss law reform in relation to global environmental protection and whether | |

| | |it has led to greater protection of the environment. | |

| | | |the role of law reform in |

| | | |protecting the global |

| | | |environment |

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|3. Contemporary | | |the effectiveness of legal |

|issues | | |and non legal responses in |

|concerning | | |protecting the environment |

|global | | | |

|environmental | | | |

|protection. | |On a world map, identify areas where there is a threat to the global environment. | |

| | |World heritage in danger: |the impact of state |

|Issues that must | | |sovereignty in encouraging |

|be studied: |identify and investigate |Powerpoint presentation on the range of contemporary issues concerning global environmental protection. Students |cooperation and resolving |

| |these contemporary issues |to make notes. |conflict in regard to |

|the role of the law in relation|involving the protection of | |environmental protection |

|to global threats to the |the global environment and |Brainstorm and create a mind map of the effectiveness of legal and non-legal responses in protecting the global | |

|environment |evaluate the effectiveness of|environment. Support with case studies. | |

| |legal and non-legal responses| | |

|legal responses to conflict |to these issues |Conduct a class debate about the conflict between the demand for resources versus the need for global | |

|between the demand for |  |environmental protection. Call out statements with reference to this issue and have students move to the area of | |

|resources and global | |the classroom that best fits their opinion (on one side agree, the middle is neutral and the other side is | |

|environmental protection | |disagree). Get students to then talk with their peers who are also standing near them and discuss their opinions. | |

| | |Then get a student from each section of the room to summarise the argument of their group. | |

|Australia’s response to | | | |

|international initiatives for | |Refer to for useful factsheets on laws relating to use of | |

|global environmental protection| |natural resources | |

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| | |Research Australia’s responses to international initiatives. | |

|barriers to achieving an | |Brainstorm and create a mindmap about the barriers to achieving an international response. | |

|international response to | | | |

|global environmental protection| |Discuss the various responses to global environmental protection. How are international obligations reflected in | |

| | |Australian law? Examine the relationship between the local and global initiatives and efforts to protect the | |

| | |environment. | |

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| | |Discuss the Copenhagen Conference and the failure to reach a legally binding agreement with regard to reducing | |

| | |carbon emissions. Discuss Asutralia’s response to this and the creation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme | |

| | |(as an alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme). | |

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| | |Scaffold an extended response to ‘Evaluate the effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures in protecting the | |

| | |global environment’. | |

| | |Cite media reports, international instruments, cases, documents or legislation with a judgement about the | |

| | |effectiveness of legal and non-legal measures, backed up with a logical argument. | |

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| | |Resources: | |

| | |Hot Topics, No. 69, International Law, 2009. | |

| | |Hot Topics, No. 63, Climate Change, 2007. | |

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| | |Hot Topics, No. 43, Water Law, 2003. | |

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| | |These issues can be studied at the end or integrated throughout the unit especially with reference to the United | |

| | |Nations. Revisit the scaffolded extended response and assess the role of these issues in achieving global | |

| | |environmental protection. | |

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| | |This is a fantastic resource which can be used throughout the whole topic with links for all things related to | |

| | |environmental law! | |

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