Branches of international environmental law - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 151

megafauna'. Many readers will remember Jacques Cousteau and his adventures
on board the Calypso . He introduced a global TV audience to all kinds of
incredible sea life in series such as The Cousteau Odyssey . His nature
programmes were generally focused on those megafauna that most fascinated
the audience.
We are most inclined to protect these charismatic megafauna, although all
forms of life (plants, herbivores, predators and decomposing organisms alike)
have their own, equally signifi cant roles in the ecosystems. Each ecosystem
includes key species: most of the species in a food chain are dependent on their
existence. A well-known example is the Baltic Sea blue mussel. Young blue
mussels provide food for fi sh and invertebrates in the seabed and adult blue
mussels for eiders. The loss of such a key species would change the structure
and functioning of the entire ecosystem.
The international community has negotiated agreements for the protection
of some specifi c animal species, such as the polar bear (1973) and the vicuña
(1979). Certain groups of animals have been the focus of attention in, for
instance, the 1946 Whaling Treaty, the 1995 Treaty on the Conservation of
African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, and the Agreement on the
Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and
North Seas (ASCOBANS). 16 Agreements are also in place to protect multiple
species, such as the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals, 17 (of which ASCOBANS is part). An International
Plant Protection Convention has also been agreed. 18
Certain conservation conventions focus on a particular region. Examples
include the 1940 Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation
in the Western Hemisphere, comprising South and North America (some-
times called a 'sleeping treaty', because it has not been much developed); the
pan-European Bern Convention on the conservation of European wildlife;
the 1968 African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural
Resources; and the 1980 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic
Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The EU has an entire programme,
Natura 2000, intended to protect both habitats and endangered species.
Some ecosystems are protected by separate universal agreements. The
Ramsar Convention 19 protects wetlands important for waterfowl, whereas
the World Heritage Convention 20 protects natural heritage sites deemed to
be important for humankind. The Desertifi cation Convention 21 aims at
combating desertifi cation in countries experiencing serious drought and/or
desertification, particularly in Africa. Non-binding instruments such as
the UN Forest Principles aim to improve the administration of forest
ecosystems. In June 2011, the pan-European cooperation process, Forest
Europe, commenced negotiations on a European agreement on sustainable
forest management. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the CITES system, 22 aims at protecting
endangered animals and plants by controlling international trade in endan-
gered species.