The International Regulation of Trade in Wildlife: Institutional and Normative Considerations

Global governance and sustainable development may be at odds with each other if the former implies highly centralized forms of natural resource management. Proponents of international regulation of trade in animal and plant parts argue that the dictates of environmental necessity outweigh the concerns of those to whom this regulation represents a fundamental imposition upon their way of life and economic opportunities. More specifically, such regulation (represented primarily by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) is necessary because the value of biodiversity must supersede that of cultural tradition and economic opportunity costs associated with either refraining from trade or enforcing trade bans/regulation. Critics charge this is a western-oriented approach that fails to take into account the need for international trade in order to sustain local enthusiasm for trade limitations in southern states and amongst indigenous communities in the south. This paper will analyze this debate, with reference to CITES, and suggest that the need for habitat protection may be the only way to close the divide between hardened ideological positions.