Environmental assessment and decision making

This unit deals with the processes for assessing the potential environmental consequences of a range of human activities with a focus on development proposals and land use changes. These can be highly contentious because of the conflicting interests, types of knowledge and values of different stakeholders. The unit will examine the nature of the widely-adopted procedure of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), exploring relevant legislative frameworks and understandings of best practice. It will also examine  related processes of social impact assessment, health impact assessment, risk assessment and strategic environmental assessment. You are encouraged to critically evaluate existing processes and argue for improvements to deliver more sustainable and socially equitable outcomes.