• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Endangered Species Protection in the Arctic: A Comparative Legal Study of the Polar Regions of Europe and North America Sarah Elizabeth Mackie A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Newcastle Law School January 2020 ii This thesis is dedicated to the wonderful girls of 1st Jesmond (JPC) Rangers who frequently had to fend for themselves while I went gallivanting off round the Arctic. And also to: James Edward Levey Rebecca Sarah Wood Thomas Matthew Walley Phoebe Elizabeth Walley Noah Eli Foster Grace Elizabeth Foster Hannah Grace Tufton Nell Grace Jackson Here, finally, is the polar bear story which I have been writing.1 1 ‘Auntie Sarah, have you finished your polar bear story yet?’ Noah Foster, aged 8, April 2019. iii iv Abstract The Arctic is changing faster than any other region on earth. Climate change is leading to warming within the Arctic at least twice the rate of the rest of the planet. Climate change, combined with the impact of pollution, plastics in the ocean, natural resource extraction, and many other harmful anthropogenic activities, is threatening the survival of many Arctic species. Reliant on sea ice habitats or adapted to bitterly cold conditions, animals and plants in the Arctic are facing extinction if they cannot be protected. Endangered species protection in the Arctic is primarily the responsibility of the nation states with territory north of the Arctic Circle. Each country has their own laws and regulations aimed at protecting species. This project uses a comparative legal method to assess the effectiveness of the endangered species protection systems within the domestic legal systems of the Arctic nations of Europe and North America. The study considers the legislation, regulations and other written laws of each country as well as using a number of case studies to demonstrate how the law is used in practice. Selection of the case studies is made possible through the collation of reported endangered species court cases from north of the Arctic Circle over the past two decades. By conducting a comparison of domestic endangered species protection laws within the Arctic, this project identifies strengths and weaknesses in the systems of the various jurisdictions, draws on examples of good practice which could be used to influence changes in the approach of other Arctic countries and makes recommendations of improvements which need to be made to help Arctic species to survive the threats which they will face in the coming years. v vi Acknowledgements First, I wish to thank my supervisor, Dr Ole Pedersen. It was Dr Pedersen who was the one who (along with Dr Sylvia de Mars, to whom I am also grateful) encouraged my passion for research and who persuaded me to pursue a PhD in the first place. I am extremely grateful that he did not give up when I was initially reluctant. I have valued Dr Pedersen’s input into my research and into the writing of my thesis. His comments and thoughts on my work have always been thoughtful and encouraging. I am also incredibly grateful for the way in which he allowed me to travel widely during my PhD, always agreeing to supervise me remotely from whichever country I was in at the time. Dr Pedersen took every announcement that I was moving and every Application for Outside Study in his stride and, in this way, he allowed me to take up so many exciting opportunities. These opportunities have given my PhD studies so much more breadth and depth. With them came publications, conferences, experiences, colleagues and friends beyond anything I could have imagined when I decided to do a PhD. I would also like the thank the amazing librarians at Newcastle Law School who have always gone above and beyond in assisting me to find obscure materials and in helping me in so many other ways. Cath, Becca, Oliver and Janet – thank you so much. I am particularly grateful to Kathy Walton from Newcastle University’s Student Support Services for her support and encouragement. Kathy’s help was invaluable in the final few months of writing this thesis. My research has been funded by a scholarship from Newcastle Law School. I would not have been able to undertake my work without such funding and I am grateful to the school for generously providing funding. I have been extremely fortunate to have had the chance to experience so many other universities, particularly in the Arctic, during my PhD and I am grateful to everyone who welcomed me into their institutions and supported my research efforts. Thank you to the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland, to Harvard Law School, vii USA, to Ilisimatusarfik, Nuuk, Greenland and to the KG Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea at the University of Tromsø, Norway for hosting me. At the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, I am grateful to Professor Kamrul Hossain and Dr Dorothée Cambou, among others, for enabling me to come to the Arctic Centre, for making me so welcome and for encouraging my passions for Arctic environmental law and for academic research. Thank you for giving me so many opportunities to write, to publish and to speak at academic conferences. Thank you to Professor Rachael Johnstone and Professor Anne Merrild Hansen at Ilisimatusarfik for allowing me come to Greenland which was one of the most fascinating experiences of my PhD. Thank you especially for inviting me to join you to conduct interviews in east Greenland. I am also grateful to Professor Johnstone for her continued mentorship and for being an inspiring role model. Thank you also to Morten Nornild who generously gave up his time to tell me more about how the Greenlandic legal system worked. From the Greenland Courts, I would like to thank Mike Ludovika Villadsen who found a number of Greenlandic legal cases that I had been unable to find elsewhere. I am also grateful to Romain Chuffart for his assistance with finding the definition of the Greenlandic fishing territory. To Professor Richard Lazarus, thank you for enabling me to come to Harvard Law School and for letting me take your Environmental Law class which I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved every minute of my time at Harvard and found my year there to be nothing short of inspirational. Thank you also to Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for generously allowing me to take your brilliant American Legal History class. I was made extremely welcome at the KG Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea at the University of Tromsø. I am thankful to Professor Nigel Bankes, Professor Tore Henriksen, Christin Skjervold and Hilde Woker for welcoming me to the University of Tromsø and for enabling my time in Norway to be so productive and enjoyable. I am grateful to my family, Chris and Glynis Mackie and Emily, Colin and James Levey for their love and their constant support. Thank you especially to Dad for proof reading large parts of this thesis. viii I will forever be indebted to Dr Anna Young, Dr Rachel Watson and Dr Sarah McGarrity, three of the most remarkable friends that anyone could ever hope to have. Without them I could not, and would not, have finished this thesis. Thank you for your love, your care, your prayers, your unending patience and for sticking by me through everything. I am also thankful to the many other friends and colleagues who have helped and supported me throughout the last four years. There are too many of you to name but please know how much I appreciate and value each of you. Finally, thank you to Trustees for Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, without whom I would never have developed a passion for environmental law in the Arctic. I came to you looking for an adventure and definitely got more than I bargained for! ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.’ Psalm 24 v 1-2 ix x Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ xi Table of Figures ................................................................................................................ xxi Map of the Arctic ........................................................................................................... xxiii 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Research Questions ............................................................................................... 2 1.3. Contribution to the Field ....................................................................................... 4 1.4. Organisation of the Thesis..................................................................................... 8 1.5. Defining the Arctic ................................................................................................ 9 1.6. International Legal Regimes in the Arctic .......................................................... 13 1.7. Do We Need Biodiversity? ................................................................................. 13 1.8. Climate Change ..................................................................................................

Load more

  575

Copy Link