Governing Antarctica
UndergraduateTAS-KSA2012025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- Subject may require attendance
- Enrol by
- 16 Feb 2025
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Price from
- $3,221
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Governing Antarctica
About this subject
Upon successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a broad understanding of the geographical scope and characteristics of the Antarctic and understand what activities are conducted there that make it vulnerable.
- Interpret the vulnerabilities of the Antarctic in order to identify options to avoid potentially harmful practices.
- Analyse a wide range of legal and regulatory instruments that help to manage human use.
- Critically assess the effectiveness of specific policy and legal approaches to solving human use problems.
- Governance of Antarctica: Problem structures and regimes
- Antarctic Governance: History and sovereignty claims
- Antarctic Treaty 1959
- Antarctic Marine Living Resources: CCAS and the CAMLR Convention
- Mining and the CRAMRA
- Nuclear Activities in Antarctica
- The Environmental Protocol 1991
- Antarctic Inspection Mechanisms
- Antarctic Institutions: ATCM, CCAMLR Commission, COMNAP, AT Secretariat, SCAR
- The CEP under the Madrid Protocol
- Antarctic Heritage Protection
- Tourism, NGOs
- CCAMLR Issues: Compliance procedures
- Marine protected areas in the CCAMLR area
- Climate Change and Antarctic Governance
- Strategic Aspects of Antarctic Governance
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean – valued, protected, understood. This mantra was coined originally by the Australian Antarctic Division (the government department with responsibility for Australian activities in the Antarctic) and was also adopted, with modification, by Antarctica New Zealand (New Zealand’s government department). It reflects the vision of these two countries, and the ideological approach they have to their interests in the Antarctic. It is simple, descriptive and informative. It is what this subject is all about. “Protecting Antarctica” integrates the natural and social sciences to give context to contemporary Antarctic environmental issues. Its objective is to provide a comprehensive, multidisciplinary review of the management and regulation of uses of the continent and surrounding marine environment of the Southern Ocean from the point of view of protecting the natural environment and its values. It includes a series of lectures on geography and environmental sciences, physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences and humanities. “Protecting Antarctica” incorporates the theme of multiple use management of a globally important region, wherein management involves commercial marine living resource extraction, scientific research, logistics, and tourism and other non-extractive commercial activities. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are subject to a unique legal regime including an environmental protocol to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, and this instrument has become the basis upon which all human activity in Antarctica is judged. Completing the subject will equip students from a wide variety of fields with the ability to view the Antarctic from a more holistic perspective. Your new knowledge will assist you to understand the various values of the region, how they – and the areas they apply to – become known, then valued, then protected.
- Short Answer Questions (30%)
- Essay (30%)
- Final Exam (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Prior study
You must either have successfully completed the following subject(s) before starting this subject, or currently be enrolled in the following subject(s) in a prior study period; or enrol in the following subject(s) to study prior to this subject:
one of
- TAS-KSA101-Introduction to Marine and Antarctic Science A
- TAS-HIR101-Introduction to International Relations
- TAS-HPP101-Introduction to Politics and Policy
Please note that your enrolment in this subject is conditional on successful completion of these prerequisite subject(s). If you study the prerequisite subject(s) in the study period immediately prior to studying this subject, your result for the prerequisite subject(s) will not be finalised prior to the close of enrolment. In this situation, should you not complete your prerequisite subject(s) successfully you should not continue with your enrolment in this subject. If you are currently enrolled in the prerequisite subject(s) and believe you may not complete these all successfully, it is your responsibility to reschedule your study of this subject to give you time to re-attempt the prerequisite subject(s).
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Teaching Arrangement: 2-hour lecture + 1-hour tutorial. Both lecture and tutorial will be available synchronously (at the same time) for online students.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
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