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Loss of Biodiversity: an International Environmental Policy Perspective

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Loss of Biodiversity: an International Environmental Policy Perspective NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Volume 17 Number 2 Article 2 Spring 1992 Loss of Biodiversity: An International Environmental Policy Perspective Tracy Dobson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj Recommended Citation Tracy Dobson, Loss of Biodiversity: An International Environmental Policy Perspective, 17 N.C. J. INT'L L. 277 (1992). Available at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj/vol17/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Loss of Biodiversity: An International Environmental Policy Perspective Cover Page Footnote International Law; Commercial Law; Law This article is available in North Carolina Journal of International Law: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj/vol17/ iss2/2 Loss of Biodiversity: An International Environmental Policy Perspective Tracy Dobson* I. Introduction Once upon a time, humans, animals, plants, and the wind, sun and stars were all able to talk together. God changed this, but we are still part of a wider community. We have the right to live, as do the plants, animals, wind, sun and stars; but we have no right tojeopard- 1 ize their existence. Spokesperson, San people of Botswana. We all share this tormented earth, and harm done in any part of it will exact a heavy toll from all of us. President Robert Mugabe, 2 Zimbabwe. This we know. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web,3 he does to himself. Chief Sealth. These speakers share a common concern; they believe that hu- mankind must live in harmony with nature in order to survive. That natural harmony has been disrupted by human activity is obvious. The list of substantial environmental problems threatening the global ecosystem and, thus, human life and health, is long, diverse, and growing as new problems are uncovered on a regular basis. The major symptoms of the Earth's deteriorating condition include strat- ospheric ozone layer depletion, 4 atmospheric pollution, 5 massive ac- * Associate professor of Business Law and Assistant Dean of International Studies and Programs, Michigan State University. The author publishes and teaches in the areas of international environmental policy, law and society, and women's rights. I OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, TECHNOLOGIES TO MAINTAIN BIOLOGICAL Di- VERsrrY 54 (1987) [hereinafter OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT]. 2 World Monitor (NBC television broadcast, Sept. 8, 1989). 3 This quotation was taken from a speech made by Chief Sealth, patriarch of the Duwamish and Squamish Indians of Puget Sound, welcoming the whites to his native Duwamish country at a tribal assembly held in 1854. 1 THE INDIGENOUS VOICE: VISIONS & REALITIES 40, 46 (Roger Moody ed., 1988). 4 For a brief explanation of the ozone layer depletion problem, see JUTTA BRUN E, 278 N.C. J. INT'L L. & COM. REG. [VOL. 17 cumulations of toxic6 and solid waste, 7 deforestation, 8 soil erosion,9 and desertification.10 Further, predicted global climate change"I will likely result in additional dramatic environmental upheaval.' 2 This Article focuses on another significant problem: global loss of biological diversity, one of the most intractable of our environ- mental dilemmas. Biological diversity (or "biodiversity") can be loosely defined as the variety and variability among the multitude of plant and animal species and the ecological complexes in which they occur. Biodiversity is believed to be an essential component of natu- ral systems, but because it is rapidly diminishing, biodiversity has re- ceived growing recognition as a significant environmental issue.' 3 ACID RAIN AND OZONE LAYER DEPLETION: INTERNATIONAL LAW AND REGULATION 35-50 (1988). 5 A.R. MEETHAM ET. AL, ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION: ITS HISTORY, ORIGINS AND PRE- VENTION (4th rev. ed. 1981). Acid rain, a significant global air pollution problem, is dis- cussed in BRUNIE, supra note 4, at 8-33. 6 See generally ALAN A. BLOCK & FRANK R. SCARPITrI, POISONING FOR PROFIT: THE MAFIA AND TOXIC WASTE IN AMERICA (1985); SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN ET AL., HAZARDOUS WASTE IN AMERICA (1982); LEWIS REGENSTEIN, AMERICA THE POISONED: How DEADLY CHEMICALS ARE DESTROYING OUR ENVIRONMENT, OUR WILDLIFE, OURSELVES AND - How WE CAN SURVIVE! (1982); RALPH NADER ET AL., WHO'S POISONING AMERICA: CORPORATE POLLUTERS AND THEIR VICTIMS IN THE CHEMICAL AGE (1981); Ed Magnuson, A Problem that Cannot Be Buried, TIME, Oct. 14, 1985, at 76; Andrew Porterfield & David Weir, The Export of U.S. Toxic Wastes, NATION, Oct. 3, 1987, at 325, 341. 7 See generally OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, FACING AMERICA'S TRASH: WHAT NEXT FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE? (1989); MANAGING SOLID WASTES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (John R. Holmes ed., 1984);J. Trevere MacFadyen, New York: Where Will All the Garbage Go?, ATLANTIC, Mar. 1985. 8 For a discussion of deforestation in Africa, see LLOYD TIMBERLAKE, AFRICA IN CRI- SIS:THE CAUSES, THE CURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL BANKRUPTCY 103-28 (1986). The South American problem is discussed in SUSAN B. HECHT & ALEXANDER COCKBURN, THE FATE OF THE FOREST: DEVELOPERS, DESTROYERS AND DEFENDERS OF THE AMAZON (1989). For a good general discussion of deforestation globally, see OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, TECHNOLOGIES TO SUSTAIN TROPICAL FOREST RESOURCES (1984); Nicholas Guppy, Tropical Deforestation: A Global View, 62 FOREIGN AFF. 928 (1984). 9 Soil erosion, a problem reaching catastrophic proportions in much of Africa, is discussed in TIMBERLAKE, supra note 8, at 129-72. 10 Especially problematic in Africa, desertification is discussed in id. at 59-102. For a broader analysis, see Christopher C. Joyner, Towards TransnationalManagement of Desertifica- tion: The Eco-Politics of Global Concern, 16 INT'L LAw. 67 (1982). 11 See generally JOHN FIROR, THE CHANGING ATMOSPHERE: A GLOBAL CHALLENGE (1990); STEVEN H. SCHNEIDER, GLOBAL WARMING: ARE WE ENTERING THE GREENHOUSE CENTURY? (1989). A prediction that we really have ten years more than was thought to determine whether global warming is a major threat appears in Michael E. Schlesinger & XingianJiang, Revised Projection of Future Greenhouse Warming, 350 NATURE, Mar. 21, 1991, at 219. Some researchers believe that other environmental factors will intervene, mitigating the impact of global warming. See, e.g., J.F.B. Mitchell et al., C02 and Climate: A Missing Feedback, 341 NATURE, Sept. 14, 1989, at 132; David L. Wheeler, Scientists Studying "Green- house Effect" Challenge Fears of Global Warming, CHRON. HIGHER EDUC.,Jan. 31, 1990, at A4-5, A9. 12 SCHNEIDER, supra note 11, at 120-90; Robert L. Peters I1, The Effect of Global Cli- matic Change on Natural Communities, in BIODIVERSITY 450 (Edward 0. Wilson ed., 1988). 13 Reducing Risk: Setting Prioritiesand Strategiesfor Environmental Protection, Relative Risk Reduction Strategies Committee, Sept. 1990, at 13 (Science Advisory Board report to EPA administrator William Reilly identifying habitat loss and species extinction as two environ- mental problems in the high risk category). 1992] Loss OF BIODIVERSITY 279 Biodiversity's rich and multifaceted variety serves a myriad of useful functions in the contexts of local, regional, and global ecosystems. Indeed, an extensive and expanding literature details the importance 1 4 of biodiversity to ecosystems and to humankind. Evidence of the value of biodiversity and human dependence on its existence is mounting as its current rate of loss escalates. In this context, concern is translating, albeit slowly and haltingly, into pro- tective policies. This Article provides an overview of the functions and importance of biological diversity as a characteristic of ecosys- tems as well as the reasons the variety is rapidly diminishing. Se- lected national and international policies and the adoption of a global strategy for protecting this critical resource are considered in an attempt to fashion an effective policy response to this dilemma. II. Evidence of the problem: high rate of species loss Sudden, large-scale extinction has occurred at least eight times on Earth according to scientific record.' 5 With greater knowledge about the value and importance of maintaining diverse flora and fauna, increasing attention is being paid to the rapidly accelerating rate of species extinction. 16 Scientists analyzing potential effects of global climate change predict a much higher annual rate of species 17 loss once the full impact of climate change becomes manifest. As history begins to repeat itself, scientists peg current loss rates at 150 species per day.' 8 Some scientists now caution that mass spe- cies extinction, including that of the currently dominant terrestrial animal species, homo sapiens, is likely to occur in one to two centuries if humankind continues on its current destructive trajectory. 19 This dire prediction's credibility is enhanced by computer model extrapo- lations of the probable effects of global climate change. 20 Computer 14 NORMAN MYERS, THE PRIMARY SOURCE 5-88 (1984); BRYAN G. NORTON, WHY PRE- SERVE NATURAL VARIETY? (1987); CHRISTINE PRESCOTr-ALLEN & ROBERT PRESCOTr-ALLEN, THE FIRST RESOURCE: WILD SPECIES IN THE NORTH AMERICAN ECONOMY (1986); BIODIVER- SITY, supra note 12; OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 37-59. 15 David M. Raup &J.John Sepkoski, Jr., Periodic Extinction of Families and Genera, 231 ScI. 833, 833-36 (1986). For a discussion of the five major mass extinctions of the Pharezoic period, see DavidJablonski, Causes and Consequences of Mass Extinctions:A Compara- tive Approach, in DYNAMICS OF EXTINCTION 183 (David K. Elliott ed., 1986). 16 Norman Myers, The End of the Line, 94 NAT. HIST.
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