MA Environmental Law and Sustainable Development SOAS University of London

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or part-time

The MA in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development provides a unique specialisation in a rapidly developing area of law. Environmental law has grown rapidly over the past five decades and is now one of the key areas of both domestic and international law. The increasingly vast scope of environmental law is reflected in the umbrella notion of sustainable development that captures the links between traditional environmental issues and broader development concerns. Environmental law thus covers not only traditional nature conservation and pollution control issues but also broader the use and conservation of natural resources. In addition, we emphasise links between environmental regulation and other related fields of law, such as human rights, trade or intellectual property rights.

Why SOAS?

The SOAS degree offers a distinct and unique mix of modules that covers the main areas of environmental law in their international and national dimensions, with a focus on the global South.

At SOAS, we understand environmental law as deeply connected with human and social issues. This is why our compulsory introductory course is a course on Law Environment and Social Justice. This also explains why human rights dimensions find a repeated place in our courses.

Our international environmental law focused courses (International Environmental Law, Climate Change Law and Policy, and Law and Global Commons) will offer you a strong base in some of the main challenges arising at the international and global level and provide you particular insights in the global South-global North aspects of relevant regimes that are on the whole structured around a North-South dichotomy.

We also offer courses focusing more specifically on the resource dimension of environmental law. At SOAS, we take a broad view of the subject matter and our Law and Natural Resources course addresses a broad variety of natural resources beyond the traditional focus on oil and gas and does so in particular in terms of the livelihoods and human rights consequences of natural resource use. Our water courses (Water Justice: Rights, Access and Movements and Water and Development: Commodification, Ecology and Globalisation) address the increasingly crucial and understudied field of water and do so from an interdisciplinary perspective in collaboration with the Department of Development Studies.

The programme is anchored in the research carried out at SOAS on environmental law whose institutional home is the Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC). The LEDC is the focal point for environment-related research activities in the School of Law, including a vibrant PhD cohort, an annual seminar series, the publication of the Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD Journal), and other activities linked to ongoing research. As students on the LLM in environmental law, you will be invited to become student members of the LEDC, providing you with an opportunity to become involved and engage with the SOAS research community and actors in the field, which includes many scholars in different departments and interdisciplinary centres, such as the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy and the Centre for Water and Development.

Why you?

This programme is ideal for graduates or professionals with no law background but an interest in the theory and practice of environmental law and related fields, particularly as they relate to the global South.

After you graduate, you will join alumni from the MA at SOAS, many of whom are now working in environmental NGOs and consultancies, in government, in policy work at the national or international level (UN or other) or in academia (please also see the ‘employment’ tab on this page).

Please note that the MA is tailored to applicants who do not hold an LLB. If you do hold an LLB and are interested in pursuing a master’s degree in environmental law at SOAS see details of the LLM.

Structure

To facilitate the study of law, all MA students are required to attend a two-week Preliminary Law, Legal Reasoning and Legal Methods in September before beginning the MA programme.

Students must take modules to a total value of 180, consisting of a dissertation (60 credits) and 120 credits of taught modules. Taught modules are worth either 15 or 30 credits.

Students who wish to graduate with a specialised MA are required to take at least 60 credits associated with his or her specialised MA, a further 30 credits within the School of Law (General Law Postgraduate Taught Module List), and a final 30 unit which can either be taken within the School of Law or from the Language Open Options or Non-Language Open Options pages with the MA Programme Convenor’s permission. The dissertation topic will be undertaken within the MA specialisation.

Please note: Not all modules listed will be available every year.

Dissertation

Students must complete a Dissertation (12,000 words) in Law, which should be on a topic relating to their chosen MA specialism.

• MA Dissertation in Law

Taught Component

Students will take the core module Environmental Law and Social Justice (see below). In addition, students will take the pre-sessional module Preliminary Law, Legal Reasoning and Legal Methods.

• Law, Environment and Social Justice
• Preliminary Law, Legal Reasoning and Legal Methods

and

• Choose modules from the List A below to the value of 45 credits.

and

• Choose a module(s) from the List A or General Law PGT list below to the value of 30 credits.

and

• Choose a module(s) from the General Law PGT Options list below or from Postgraduate Open Options to the value of 30 credits.

List of Modules (subject to availability)

• List A
  • Climate Change Law and Policy
  • International Environmental and Sustainable Development Law
  • Law and Natural Resources
  • Water Law and Development: Conflicts, Governance and Justice
  • Water and Development: Conflict and Governance
  • Water Law: Justice and Governance
  • Law, Environment and Social Justice
  • Law and Global Commons
• General Law Options
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Gender, Sexuality and Law: Selected Topics
  • Gender, Sexuality and Law: Theories and Methodologies
  • Human Rights and Islamic Law
  • International Commercial Arbitration
  • International Human Rights Clinic
  • International Investment Law
  • Islamic Law (MA/LLM)
  • Law and Development in Africa
  • Law and Society in Southeast Asia
  • Law and Society in The Middle East and North Africa
  • Law, Rights & Social Change
  • Preliminary Law, Legal Reasoning and Legal Methods
  • International Migration Law
  • International Refugee Law
  • Law and Society in South Asia
  • Mapping International Law in London: International Legal Geography in the Capital of Empire
  • Law, Environment and Social Justice
  • Law and Justice in Contemporary China
  • Climate Change Law and Policy
  • Colonialism, Empire and International Law
  • Comparative Constitutional Law
  • Foundations of International Law
  • Human Rights Of Women
  • International Criminal Law
  • International Environmental and Sustainable Development Law
  • International Protection of Human Rights
  • Justice, Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Post Conflict Societies
  • Law and Natural Resources
  • Law and Policy of International Courts and Tribunals
  • Law and Postcolonial Theory
  • Law of Islamic Finance
  • Law, Human Rights and Peace Building: The Israeli-Palestinian Case
  • Multinational Enterprises and The Law
  • The Law of Armed Conflict
  • The Law of International Trade and/or Financial Regulation
  • Water Law and Development: Conflicts, Governance and Justice
  • Water Law: Justice and Governance
• Non-Law Options
  Other non-law options might also be available, for example:
  • Global Energy & Climate Policy
  • Energy Policy in the Asia-Pacific

Open Options Note

Open options from the cross-faculty list will need the approval of deputy PG programme convenor (LLM or MA)

Important notice

The information on the programme page reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session.

Employment

Students have gone on to take up a variety of exciting opportunities. Some graduates have decided to carry on with further academic studies and have undertaken a PhD in environmental law; some have gone on to practice environmental law in their own countries; some have worked for environmental consultancies, such as Milieu in Brussels or specific environmental law advisory organisations, such as ClientEarth and Climate Law and Policy; some have gone on to work on environmental issues in international organisations, and some have gone on to work more broadly on sustainable development in international NGOs and inter-governmental organisations. A postgraduate degree in environmental law and sustainable development thus opens up many doors, reflecting the broad scope of the course and the multiplicity of ways in which it can be applied in the workplace.