Developing Countries and the Implementation of CITES: The Mexican Experience

A key issue for the success of international conventions regulating biodiversity conservation is to understand the different philosophical positions of each party for initially acceding to that convention, and for the measures each party takes to implement that convention. This paper documents policies for wildlife trade regulation in Mexico from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, with emphasis on the process of CITES implementation. Mexico was slow to adopt environmental policies, but when Mexico did recognize wider environmental concerns, the prospect of acceding to CITES was not considered because of existing bans on all wildlife trade in native species. However, Mexico could not control the illegal trade of wild species during the 1980s. Mexico acceded to CITES in 1991 mainly in response to international pressure and to bilateral pressure while seeking to join a free trade agreement. The step of joining CITES was taken without clear analysis about the consequences of being a party to the Convention. Between 1992 and 1996, Mexico had no clear policy about its role within CITES. The period from 1997 to 2001 witnessed an improved legal and administrative structure and a greater internal coordination between the institutions involved with CITES. Mexico has now improved its policy toward international wildlife trade.     

The CBD at ten: The long road to effectiveness

Abstract

This article reviews progress and challenges in the implementation of the Convention on biological diversity since its adoption in 1992. Progress has been significant in many ways, although difficult to measure beyond procedural improvements (creation of new institutions, guidelines, national processes) and the development of new tools. Many challenges remain, both at the level of the operation of the regime and of national implementation, in part due to the nature of the convention and the complexity of its relationships with other regimes. Since knowledge about the state of biodiversity is scant and indicators poor, the argument is advanced that we should assess CBD's success and effectiveness by its ability to promote several of the preconditions of regime effectiveness. Accordingly, this article considers the record of the CBD in terms of learning, capacity‐building, network building, transparency, and the elaboration and diffusion of new norms.     

King Cotton, Developing Countries and the 'Peace Clause': The WTO's US Cotton Subsidies Decision

Although the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a powerful vehiclefor promoting economic development, the Uruguay Round has beenperceived by developing country WTO members as an unequal bargain.Especially with respect to agriculture, the Uruguay Round yieldedonly limited concessions. In September 2003, Doha Round effortsstalled at Cancún when developing countries coalescedto oppose a proposal that insufficiently liberalized trade inagriculture. In March 2005, the Dispute Settlement Body adopteda panel decision upholding Brazil’s legal challenge ofUS subsidies to cotton producers. The US Cotton Subsidies decisionrepresents a dramatic victory for Brazil and other developingcountry WTO members. The timing of the decision, coincidingwith ongoing Doha Round agriculture negotiations, ensures thatit will influence any outcome of the Round. This article examinesthe US Cotton Subsidies decision, describes the subsidy programsat issue in the dispute, reviews applicable WTO rules, and outlinesthe major findings of the panel and Appellate Body. The articleconcludes that Brazil’s victory in US Cotton Subsidiesmay represent a broader shift within the WTO away from a systemdominated by the US and EC toward a system that increasinglyis influenced by emerging market economies.     

Attempt: The Conduct Requirement

The law relating to the conduct requirement for criminal attemptsis confused and incoherent. This article examines this incoherence,rejects the Law Commission's provisional proposals to splitthe crime of attempt into two separate inchoate offences andsuggests a reformulation of the conduct requirement in attempts.     

CITES as Global Governance: Paths to Consensus and Defining Nature Through Uncertainty

Abstract

As concern over various environmental issues has risen at the international level, questions regarding what constitutes “nature” and how it should be portrayed and treated have gained a greater sense of urgency. This paper explores varying concepts and attributes of nature articulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (“CITES”). Much of the research on CITES comes from the fields of policy and ecology, exploring matters of biodiversity, sustainability, enforcement, functionality, and evaluation of CITES as a “success” or “failure” of policy, with little focus on issues of cultural context and ambiguities. In contrast, within the social sciences, the contemporary literature is broadly dedicated to critiquing the static, dualistic ideas of nature upon which environmental regulations are based. However, what is often missing from this discourse is how environmental policies often have an implicit understanding that these static conceptions of nature are not accurate – that within the environmental legislation process, there is “an awareness, for example, of the messy, improvised character of knowledges about nature”. This paper explores CITES’s understanding of nature, how it characterizes nature, and how these conceptions become implemented in legislative practice. It illustrates CITES as a manifestation of what Krueger calls a regulatory process of “coded and recoded text with material implications” (p. 880), wherein a relatively unchanging set of legislation can create “multiple, even contradictory, outcomes coexisting simultaneously in the same system” (p. 872).     

Who Wants Informal Courts? Paradoxical Evidence from a Yugoslav Attempt to Create Workers' Courts for Labor Cases

The comrades' courts of the East European socialist countries are considered by those who favor alternative means of dispute resolution to be admirable examples of informal courts in modern industrial societies. However, these courts have not been extensively investigated. This article presents the results of an intensive observational study of one kind of socialist alternative court, the Yugoslav Courts of Associated Labor, comparing them with an ideal model of informal courts and with the available data on comrades' courts in other East European socialist countries. We find that, in contrast with the latter, the Yugoslav courts are indeed workers' courts, in the sense that they are used by workers—over 90% of their cases are brought by individual workers. On the other hand, they are not workers' courts in the sense of being controlled by workers—they are instead dominated by legal professionals. We conclude that these Yugoslav courts are attractive to individual workers precisely because they are not informal, social courts, but rather are independent legal agencies from which workers may receive unprejudiced decisions and substantial remedies.     

Using Private-Public Linkages to Regulate Environmental Conflicts: The Case of International Construction Contracts

The article takes a pluralistic view of the 'trade-environment' conflict by exploring one of the settings of this conflict: the lex constructionis – international construction law. It seeks to unravel the way in which the unique structural-cultural attributes of this legal domain have affected its environmental (in)sensitivity. The article's main argument in that context is that the contractual tradition of the lex constructionis (as manifested in the standard contracts that dominate this field) and its unique institutional structure, have created a culture of ecological indifference. This culture has important practical consequences because of the deep ecological problematic of international construction projects. The article develops an alternative contractual model, which depicts the construction contract as a semi-political mechanism, rather than a private tool. This conceptual change seeks to break the public/private separation that characterizes the contractual discourse in the international construction market. The article explores, further, whether this alternative contractual vision could be realized in practice, and proposes several implementing modules which could further this goal. While the article explores a particular international regime, its methodology and conclusions – in particular, the political-constitutional interpretation of the contract and the critique of the public/private dichotomy (see sections III.3 and III.4) – should be relevant to the regulation of many other (national or international) environmental dilemmas.     

The Precautionary Principle and the Ecosystem Approach in International Law: Differences, Similarities and Linkages

The precautionary principle and the ecosystem approach are often mentioned in one breath. This article explores the differences, similarities and relationship between the two concepts. In a comparative and integrated assessment, it addresses, among other things, the purpose, core elements and status of the precautionary principle and the ecosystem approach under international law, the role of scientific information in their application, and the management actions associated with their implementation.     

Stepping Up to the Plate: Minor Leaguers Attempt to Remedy their Unconscionable Plight

Professional baseball players are often thought of as making multi-million-dollar salaries, but most professional baseball players have recently made under $15,000 a year. Minor league players toiled under an onerous system resulting from baseball's judicially created antitrust exemption and lobbying efforts that exempted them from minimum wage and overtime. These factors allowed teams to impose a uniform player contract (UPC) on players with numerous unconscionable provisions for years. However, a late-night Tweet in August of 2022 sent shockwaves through the sports and labor world, announcing that the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) was sending out authorization cards to represent minor league players. After years of fighting to maintain the authority to impose conditions on minor league players, through lobbying and litigation, Major League Baseball (MLB) turned over a new leaf and recognized the unionization of minor league players under the MLBPA less than three weeks later. In light of this long sought-after recognition, this article takes a novel approach. First, it provides historical context for baseball's unique ability to impose working conditions on minor leaguers without significant concern for legal ramifications. Second, it provides an overview of the doctrine of contractual unconscionability and analyzes the prior UPC as an unconscionable agreement. Finally, it details the historic unionization process and makes detailed recommendations to ameliorate the unconscionable conditions minor league players have faced when they negotiate with MLB owners to draft their initial collective bargaining agreement.     

On the expansion of species protection in Nepal: Advances and pitfalls of new efforts to implement and comply with CITES

Abstract

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has proven particularly difficult to implement due to the complex legal requirements that it imposes on its parties. As with many other nations, Nepal lacks national implementing legislation, which has greatly hindered compliance with the treaty's provisions in the country and, indirectly, in the region. Here we explore several case studies of actual and potential CITES violations in Nepal that have come to light in the past decade, and review new draft legislation that is designed to implement the Convention and close gaps in enforcement. We predict that some gaps will remain regarding implementation and compliance with CITES in Nepal, and make several recommendations to address these issues via rule‐making procedures during the formulation of Regulations and via the actions of the CITES Coordination Council, a provision in the draft Act that is designed to improve cross‐sectoral cooperation.     

South Australia's Judicature Act Reforms of 1853: The First Attempt to Fuse Law and Equity in the British Empire

In South Australia in 1853, 20 years before the judicature system was introduced in England, legislation was passed to fuse the administration of law and equity. This article first describes the South Australian reform and then considers the sources from which it might have emanated and the motives behind its enactment. It shows that, however boldly the reform may have been conceived, the practical impact of the reform on the administration of justice in South Australia was very slight. Reasons suggested for this fact include the predominance of English ideas in nineteenth century Australia and the sudden but at the same time voluntary nature of the change introduced by the legislation.