IELRC.ORG - Biodiversity
 
Related Subjects

 Biosafety 
 Intellectual Property
 Water

Biodiversity and natural resources

The use and conservation of biodiversity and natural resources is of increasing importance at the national and international levels.

A number of legal instruments deal with the various facets of biodiversity. The central treaty is the 1992 Biodiversity Convention which provides an overall legal framework for addressing biodiversity management, supplemented by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. A number of other treaties address some aspects of biodiversity management: these range from the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling to the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the 2006 International Tropical Timber Agreement.

The prominence of law and policy concerning the use and conservation of biological resources is due in part to the increased economic value of biological and genetic resources in the wake of the rapid development of genetic engineering. A number of non-environmental law treaties, such as trade and intellectual property rights treaties are thus of considerable importance in the study of biodiversity.

The skewed distribution of biological resources between tropical (mostly developing) and temperate (mostly developed) countries implies that most of the debated legal issues have a strong North-South component. This is generally a consequence of the fact that developing countries hold most biological resources while developed countries hold most of the technologies needed for commercialising them.


Selected Academic Publications on Biodiversity

     
The Public Trust Doctrine, Environmental Human Rights, and the Future of Private Property
16 New York University Environmental Law Journal 711 (2008).
 
abstract

full text   244 [KB]
     
The Impact of International Treaties on Land and Resource Rights
in Munyaradzi Saruchera ed., Securing Land and Resource Rights: Pan-African Perspectives (Cape Town: Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, 2004), p. 48
 
abstract

full text   432 [KB]
     
The Desertification Convention
UNESCO, Knowledge for Sustainable Development (Oxford: EOLSS Publishers, 2002)
 
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full text   186 [KB]
     
Biological Diversity Management in Africa: Legal and Policy Perspectives in the Run-up to WSSD
11/1 Review of European Community and International Environmental Law (2002), p. 38
 
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full text   167 [KB]
     
Common Land and Common Property Resources
in Praveen K. Jha ed., Land Reforms in India - Volume 7 - Issues of Equity in Rural Madhya Pradesh (New Delhi: Sage, 2002), p. 204
 
abstract

full text   306 [KB]
     
Property Rights Regimes over Biological Resources
19 Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy (2001), p. 651
 
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full text   335 [KB]
     
Agro-biodiversity and International Law - A Conceptual Framework
11 Journal of Environmental Law (1999), p. 257
 
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full text   234 [KB]
     
Law, Colonialism and Environmental Management in Africa
6/1 Review of European Community and International Environmental Law (1997), p. 23
 
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full text   257 [KB]
     
Dolphin Bycatches in Tuna Fisheries: A Smokescreen Hiding the Real Issues?
27 Ocean Development & International Law (1996), p. 333
 
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full text   1020 [KB]

Working Papers on Biodiversity

Sustainable Management of Wildlife Resources in East Africa - A Critical Analysis of the Legal, Policy and Institutional Frameworks
       
   
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full text    408 [KB]

Land Tenure, Land Use and Sustainability in Kenya: Towards Innovative Use of Property Rights in Wildlife Management
       
   
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full text    465 [KB]

Biological Diversity Management in Africa: Policy Perspectives
       
   
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full text    318 [KB]

Other Contributions on Biodiversity

 

The Convention on Biological Diversity (2003)
 

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (2003)
 

Biodiversity Legislation Reflects India's Obligations (2001)
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