b) Environmental issue & governance interventions individual essay

• Title: Critical examination of a relevant environmental issue and related governance interventions.
• Type: Essay
• Date: Thu 8 Jan 2026
• Individual, 3,000 words
• 75% final module mark

The aim of this assessment is to enable you to critically engage in-depth with a key environmental issue of your preference, and to explore the effectiveness of a recent governance intervention that aims to address this issue. The key questions you will need to respond to in the essay are:

• What are the apparent causes of the environmental issue you are examining?
• What is a key governance intervention that has been used to address this issue?
• How effective has this intervention proven in recent years, and why?
• How could the intervention be improved, to make it a more effective governance mechanism?

Further instructions

• Try not to pick too big of an issue to examine e.g. climate change. Instead, break it down into smaller components (e.g. ocean acidification, bio-diversity loss in sub-tropical highland areas etc – this allows you to focus in on a particular challenge and be more specific about its apparent causes).
• This essay is a chance for you to explore an issue for yourself, making use of some of the critical tools and insight we have garnered in your teaching sessions so far.
• Do not spend too long going into the complexities of the causes of your chosen environmental issue. Spend more time instead engaging with the governance approaches to addressing the problem. And here, don’t just list lots of different interventions. Pick one, so (again) you are able to focus in on it.
• Avoid writing an essay that is overly descriptive. Although you will undoubtedly have to outline issues and interventions (as in points 1 and 2 above), the real crux of the essay is points 3 and 4: this is where you get to engage in your own analysis and thinking about what makes an effective intervention, and how we might improve things, going forward.

Learning outcomes assessed

• To understand the evolution of the theory and practice of environmental governance and local contexts;
• To put in practice theoretical constructs and apply to a real situation;
• To develop critical thinking about environmental problems, environmental management and governance.
• To practice wiring and comprehension of complex texts, linking up academic conversations with things happening in the contemporary world.

Marking criteria

• Quality of the background data
• Clarity of the argument
• Reference to key theoretical concepts
• Critical thinking and creativity

Please note that marks for substance and structure will be affected if you exceed the word limit.

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