Biodiversity

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Biodiversity

• And Species Preservation

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Biodiversity

• Preserving all species (plants, animals, etc.)
• Often in developing nations
• Issues
• Economic development v. preservation
• Intellectual property rights v. control of raw
  materials
• Inducements answering the why should we
  preserve biodiversity question

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Species Preservation International

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered
  Species (CITES)
• Various regimes dealing with specific issues
• International Whaling Convention (IWC)
• Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks

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CITES

• Species Are Listed In Three Appendices
• Highly endangered species (only very limited
  trade)
• Threatened species (watch, but no severe
  restrictions on trade)
• Special cases (individual nations place species
  on list, for their own purposes)

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CITES, cont.

• Individual nations can opt out by entering
  reservations to a listing
• Particular CITES issues
• African elephants (poaching, Japan)
• Spotted cats

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International Whaling Convention (IWC)

• Transformation
• From a hunting regulatory regime
• To a conservation regime
• Led by U.S.
• Controversy
• Japan, Iceland, Norway as veto states
• Whaling for scientific research
• Some controversy regarding whaling by indigenous
  peoples

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International Whaling Convention (IWC)

• Moratorium still (largely) in place, but
• Is tenuous, a year-by-year thing

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Fish

• Important source of food
• Issues (depletion ownership)
• Coastal v. distant fishing
• Technology
• Drift nets
• Long lines
• Factory ships

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Fish, cont.

• Issues, cont.
• Jurisdiction
• Straddling stocks (they stay in one place, but
  their home crosses international boundaries,
  territorial waters boundaries, etc.)
• Migratory fishes (they travel long distances at
  periodic intervals)
• Resource depletion
• Who gets to catch them?
• Limits on catches?
• Enforcement?

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Forests

• Are a matter of considerable international
  concern
• Biodiversity
• Climate change
• Indigenous peoples
• Are being depleted (especially in the tropics),
  despite some progress in protection

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Forests, cont.

• International action has been slow, and of
  dubious effectiveness
• Significant veto coalitions (their membership
  shifts over time, but they have been effective).
  U.S. Brazil are currently the most important
  veto states
• Lots of wealth to be gained by exploiting forest
  resources, by cutting forests down in favor of
  alternative uses of the land

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Forests, cont.

• International action cont.
• Differing attitudes towards forests
• National resources to be managed by nation-states
  private developers
• Common user resources (like atmosphere oceans)
  to be managed for the benefit of mankind in
  general
• Some combination of both

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Species Preservation Domestic

• Early federal legislation (e.g.)
• Bird sanctuaries bans on interstate trade of
  wildlife products taken in violation of state
  laws
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act
• Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act

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Endangered Species Act

• Originally enacted in 1966
• Authorized funds to purchase habitat
• Authority to Department of the Interior (DOI)
• 1969 amendment
• DOI to promulgate a list of endangered fish and
  wildlife

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Endangered Species Act, cont.

• 1973 amendments (the key ones for current policy)
• DOI to prepare lists of threatened and
  endangered species, and of critical habitats
• DOI to develop recovery plans for listed species
• 1982 amendment
• Added a new program for protecting critical
  habitat on privately owned land

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Endangered Species Act Assessment

• It is frequently criticized
• By environmentalists
• Focusing on saving individual species is a flawed
  approach ecosystems approaches are more likely
  to be effective
• Often a species is beyond help before it is
  listed
• Protected habitats may not be the optimal
  habitats for endangered species

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Endangered Species Act Assessment

• And by others
• Opportunistic use of the act to pursue goals
  other than species preservation
• Northwestern Spotted Owl logging
• Snail darters the Tellico River dam
• Effects on private property rights (takings)

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