Unit Code: APS605

Unit Name: Contemporary Environmental Challenges in the Pacific.

Description: The purpose of this unit is to enable students to explore the many contemporary environmental challenges that are faced by Fiji and Pacific Islands. Flooding, violent cyclones, drought and sea level rise are some of the key aspects that will be looked at. Apart from this, Pacific Islands are environmentally threatened by the growing industrial and consumer human activities. These activities include exhaustive land and sea mineral extraction, over fishing , mangrove destruction, coastal and soil erosion, littering and uncontrolled pesticide and fertilizer administration and runoff. As the global ecological crisis reaches and exceeds its various tipping points, the Pacific Islands are popularly identified as amongst the most at risk in the world. This unit provides a critical introduction to the major flashpoints of ecological exhaustion and degradation in the Pacific. It also explores what measures have been adopted by which agencies in response to these issues, their successes and failures, and what further needs to be done to secure a sustainable future.

Learning Target Outcomes:

Prerequisite: APS502, APS503

Prerequisite Sentence: (Either)

Credit Point: 15

Offered In: Semester 2