Contents of Volume 1:2

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy

 

Main Articles

Abstract: The GATT-WTO system has been attacked for being at best indifferent to the environment and at worst hostile to it. However, rather than being an environmental foes, the GATT-WTO system is environmentally-friendly in many respects. Several World Trade Organization Agreements – the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – not only permit but encourage WTO member-countries to implement national programs and laws to protect the environment free from WTO interference. Multilateral initiatives through organizations such as the WTO, as opposed to unilateral bullying, are the surest way of securing robust legal protections for the environment.

Keywords: World Trade Organization; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Abstract: This paper focuses on the ability of local communities to make effective use of private legal tools as a means of assuring sustainable wildlife use. Using recent legal developments in Kenya as a case study, the paper examines a series of contracts entered into between local communities in the Samburu District and tour operators wishing to bring wildlife "photo safaris" onto Samburu lands. These contracts, typically referred to as "Eco-tourism contracts," are designed simply to allow tour operators to lead tour groups through community property without trespass. The authors argue that to achieve their true potential, these contracts must be viewed, in essence, as "wildlife easements," or "eco-easements," that can become publicly-recorded mutual conservation commitments, and as such must incorporate conservation principles with a focus on environmental impact and wildlife management. Moreover, these contracts must be linked both conceptually and financially to the communities’ governance structure and to its broader conservation efforts.

Keywords: Sustainable use of wildlife; eco-tourism; wildlife easements;

eco-easements

 

Current Developments

Abstract: The most important decisions of the 50th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission are discussed in this article, including the Japanese proposal for a secret ballot system; consideration of the Canny proposal for limited resumption of commercial whaling; Japan and Norway’s invocation of the scientific whaling provisions of the ICRW, and the role of the IWC in regulating the direct and incidental taking of small cetaceans.

Keywords: International Whaling Commission; cetaceans

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Abstract: The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea governs virtually all aspects of the law of the sea. The dispute resolution mechanisms of Part XV of the Convention, some of which are compulsory and binding, were drafted to allow maximum flexibility for the parties in their choice of procedure. The article examines the dispute resolution mechanisms’ application in the context of marine wildlife management. It discusses the parties’ primary obligations under Part XV, the role of the Convention’s third-party dispute settlement mechanism, as well as compulsory procedures and binding decisions. The initial ability of States to successfully obtain meaningful and mutually acceptable solutions to maritime disputes will instill confidence in the dispute settlement mechanism and bode well for the future of UNCLOS.

Keywords: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; dispute settlement

Documents