Economics has an important contribution to make in helping us understand and solve the many environmental problems confronting society, such as pollution, resource depletion, global warming and loss of biodiversity. This unit uses economic concepts and techniques to analyse these contemporary issues, their consequences for human well being and their implications on planning. The unit also discusses the limitations of economic analysis in providing policy guidance on environmental issues. Students learn that economic objectives do not necessarily conflict with environmental goals and that markets can be used to improve the quality of the environment.