Skip to main content

180.665.81
Planetary Health Law: Global Health Security and a Changing Environment

Location
Internet
Term
4th Term
Department
Environmental Health and Engineering
Credit(s)
4
Academic Year
2023 - 2024
Instruction Method
Asynchronous Online with Some Synchronous Online
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
Yes
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Prerequisite
Description
Planetary Health Law will equip students with novel ways of addressing threats to global human health and natural systems through the use of international law and governance. Students will gain experience using a planetary health lens to examine how law and policy can be tools for solving multidisciplinary transnational and global challenges.
Explores how humanity’s health is dependent on the flourishing of the natural environment. Examines how international law, policy, and governance respond to environmental disruption and global health consequences. Discusses treaties and frameworks responding to global change events, including pandemics, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Interrogates colonialism’s role in planetary ill-health and international law’s development. Explores pathways to respond to the inequitable distribution of health, economic, and social impacts and benefits from planetary health disruption.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Assess the role of international law and governance in addressing critical planetary health challenges
  2. Apply the concepts of planetary health as they relate to international and global law and policy responses
  3. Distinguish international legal frameworks for global health and the environment
  4. Critique the utility of novel framings, emerging fields, and alternative approaches to solve global challenges
  5. Evaluate the impacts of international laws on global health justice
  6. Generate approaches to the use of law and governance for solving multi-sectoral, transnational health problems
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
  • 10% Participation
  • 20% Midterm
  • 30% Presentation(s)
  • 40% Final Paper