Students should gain from the course the following:
a. Explain the major tenets of environmental planning in the South Australian context
b. Understand the roles of the different jurisdictional organisations within the environmental governance structure
c. Critically analyse the environmental planning structure
d. Explain key aspects of international environmental governance
e. Discuss the implications of current governance practices in relation to sustainable development goals both in Australia and internationally
f. Develop comparative analyses using quantitative and qualitative data to critique current governance systems
g. Communicate in written and oral forms key aspects of environmental planning and governance.

There are no required resources for this course.

There is no prescribed text for this course, if you do not have any background in Physical Geography or Environmental Science, the following book is highly recommended: Strahler A. (2013) Introducing Physical Geography. 6th Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester UK.

Core reading will be provided before each workshop and will be made available via MyUni.

The course guide and additional course-related material will be made available through
MyUni.

These materials include amongst other information:

· Links to Reading materials
· Announcements
· Powerpoint slides from the lectures and workshops. These will be posted just prior to the lectures and workshops.
· Links for uploading assignments

There are also numerous internet sites specialising and linking into environmental management and sustainability themes and students will be directed to these at different times.

There are a number of teaching and learning modes in this course.

The workshops are compulsory and provide a forum in which students learn about important elements of environmental planning and governance. The workshops are framed around the two major assignments.

· Initially the workshops will run through the important environmental planning elements for South Australia.
· In the second half of the semester, the workshops will focus on international and global approaches to environmental planning and governance. The workshops will also provide an opportunity for students to raise questions or points of interest, and to discuss their findings.

The course lectures, which are not compulsory, provide basic factual information and concepts about environmental management, initially in relation to the important tenets of sustainable development and in relation to societal risk.
· These lectures could be useful to attend if you do not have a background in environmental management or you are particularly interested in an environmental issue.

The take-home exam and the comparative analysis essay provide opportunities for students to undertake research that will allow you to articulate in written form the key challenges of contemporary environmental planning and governance at State and international scales. The comparative analysis will also be presented and discussed during the final workshops.

 The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

· Contact time: 3 hours of workshop (compulsory) and 2 hours of lectures (non-compulsory) per week

· Other structured learning activities: Preparation for classroom: active reading and study of week’s material and providing critical reviews of readings on MyUni (8 hours per week); 2 hours per week equivalent organising and undertaking guided face-to-face, email or telephone contact with SA government, industry and NGO environmental management practitioners.

· Preparation for assignments: 8 hours of assignment preparation time per week covering 2 major research assignments throughout the semester; equivalent of 1 hour preparation per week for presentation to peers.

· Total estimated teaching and learning time: 24 hours per week over the 12 weeks.

Schedule

Week	Lecture: not compulsory	Workshop: compulsory attendance
Week 1	1. Introduction to the course & environmental challenges 2. Does environmental management equate with sustainable development?	Course introduction
Week 2	3. Biodiversity 4. The Precautionary principle	SA government environmental planning
Week 3	5. Sustainable economic development I 6. Sustainable economic development II	Regional natural resource management planning
Week 4	7. Natural Resource Management I 8. Natural Resource Management II	Local Government environmental planning
Week 5	9. Social equity and environmental management I 10. Social equity and environmental management II	Review: Environmental planning structures in Australia
Week 6	11. Urbanisation 12. Urban environmental management	Contentious Topics in Environmental Planning: Take Home exam
Week 7	13. Sustainable Development via Ecological modernisation? 14. The Risk Society	Comparative analysis essay preparation
Week 8	15. Climate change & human populations 16. International governance & climate change	Break week
BREAK
Week 9	17. PUBLIC HOLIDAY 18. Political-ecology	International governance of socio-ecological risk
Week 10	19. Agriculture I 20. Agriculture II	Governing sustainable agricultural development
Week 11	21. Energy I 22. Energy II	Comparative analysis presentations
Week 12	23. A country case study: Switzerland 24. Summary	Comparative analysis presentations

Assessment Task	Due	% of total grade	Late penalty
Attendance at workshops		10	Not applicable
Assignment 1: Take-home exam - A planning challenge (2500 words)		40	20% per working day
Assignment 2: Comparative analysis: Essay (3000 words)		40	5% per working day
Assignment 3: Comparative analysis: Presentation		10	Not applicable

Attendance at workshops
Workshop attendance is compulsory and will be assessed as part of this course. You will be required to sign-off at each workshop and must attend at least 90% of the workshops to receive the full 10% allocation for this part of the course. You should contact the course convenor to explain why you have missed a workshop and will need to have written evidence such as a medical certificate, if you do not wish to be recorded as absent. For each workshop you are absent below the 90% threshold you will lose 2% of your total mark, down to the maximum of 10% lost.

Students are also expected to be well prepared for each workshop and participate in the discussion. Take notes from the lectures and your readings, so that you are able to raise issues in the workshop seminars.

Assignment 1: Take-home exam - A planning challenge (2500 words)
 
The take-home exam will be provided to students at the end of the workshop on Tuesday 2nd September 2014, and students will have 2 weeks to complete the assigned task linked to a South Australian environmental planning issue.
There are many resources and programs to help you improve your academic skills. A good example is available at the Centre for Learning and Professional Development at Adelaide Uni: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/.  An effective referencing of source material should be used, so if you are not familiar with the required author-date (Harvard) referencing system please have a look at the library site: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/referencing_guides/.  You should also be aware of the University’s Plagiarism Policy, which is available at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/plagiarism/

Assignment 2: Comparative Analysis Essay (3000 words)
 
You will need to undertake a comparative analysis of the governance approach to manage ONE environmental resource, pollution or hazard issue within TWO countries of your choice.
· Planning students must undertake a comparison on the governance of land use planning within rural, urban, coastal or peri-urban settings across the two countries.
· All other students will need to find an issue that interests them and there are no specific restrictions beyond a focus on an environmental management issue.

In order to complete the assignment, you should access and utilise both qualitative evidence from the literature and quantitative data that could be used as indicators of management in each case, and relate the trends in the state of the resource to desired management outcomes. To achieve this, you will need to decide on a valid comparison – so talk with the course coordinator before embarking on your topic. Your analysis should also outline the governance structures for the management of the issue in each case, and suggest how that governance structure is influencing the outcomes.

The assignment should be prepared in essay format, with headings and subheadings as necessary. You will be asked to illustrate your essay with graphs, maps, tables and diagrams as appropriate.

Assignment 3: Comparative analysis: Presentation
Due Date: During one of the final two workshops

You will present the major findings from your comparative analysis essay to your peers. Your presentation will be assessed for both matter (ie. what you present) and manner (ie. how you present). Further information about the presentation will be provided in the workshops.

The Take-Home Exam (assignment 1) and the Essay (assignment 2) will need to be submitted electronically via both the ICC site and the Turnitin Assignment tool. The links for submitting both of the assignments via the ICC site and the Turnitin Assignment tool have been created for you under the Assignment page in the MyUni site for the subject. You can upload your assignments directly by following the prompts.

For guidance on how to submit your assignment electronically via MyUni, go to http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/tutorials/ and click on the “Submit an Assignment” tutorial.

You will need to upload a Word version of your work to Turnitin AND an A4 pdf version of your assignments to the ICC site (for assistance in converting your assignment file to PDF, please see http://www.adelaide.edu.au/myuni/tutorials/content/ICC_Printed_Assignment_PDF_creation.html ).

For more assistance on submitting your assignment file to MyUni, please telephone the Service Desk on 831 33000, 8 am – 6 pm, Monday to Friday or email servicedesk@adelaide.edu.au

Assignments 1 & 2 must be lodged in electronic form by the given due date and time to avoid penalty. A penalty of 5% will be deducted per day that an assignment is submitted late.

Assignments will be printed out and marked in hard copy form and made available to be picked up by students either in class or at the end of the semester. If you wish to have the marked, final work sent to you, you MUST supply Dr Bardsley with a stamped, self-addressed envelope when submitting the final piece of work. Only one A3 envelope is necessary.

The course is designed as a review of the important environmental planning and governance issues for South Australia and internationally. It aims to guide students’ critical interests in particular topics or areas of study. For that reason, there is significant opportunity for students to investigate particular issues that interest them. SELTS results from previous years suggest that some students find this independence to be one of the more challenging aspects of the course. The workshops and readings are designed to guide you through the development of your assignments. Another key to getting the most out of the subject is to use the workshops to raise particular issues with your lecturer and peers.