Branches of international environmental law - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 153

While these obligations operate at a general level, the scope of application
is very wide. The Convention therefore has the potential to bring coherence
to a fragmented body of different agreements all aiming at aiding the survival
of particular species or group of species, or the biodiversity in a particular
region. This also suggests a potential contradiction: prioritizing a particular
species (such as the polar bear) or ecosystem (such as wetlands) at the expense
of other ecosystems or species is not the objective of the Convention; the
concept of biological diversity does not rank any species or ecosystems above
others.
From the perspective of biodiversity, it is most urgent to protect endan-
gered species. The 'red list' of the International Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) plays an important role in verifying the depletion of biodi-
versity. The list divides species into different categories according to how
endangered they are, helping political decision-makers to make conservation
decisions.
From the perspective of agreements related to species or ecosystems, the
Biodiversity Convention is too general, as it not only includes conservation
objectives but also establishes procedures for the use of biological resources.
On the other hand, the Convention on Biological Diversity can coexist with
other related agreements, because its provisions 'shall not affect the rights and
obligations of any Contracting Party deriving from any existing international
agreement' (Article 22). Should, however, the exercise of the rights and obli-
gations of an agreement result in serious damage or threat to biological diver-
sity, this would contradict the objective and purpose of the Convention on
Biodiversity. In practice, the agreements related to species and ecosystems
considered above are generally in line with the objectives of the convention.
Conservation of biological diversity in the marine environment
It is an interesting fact that in some aspects scientists know more about outer
space than they do about the oceans; the assumption is that there is an enor-
mous number of marine species that have not yet been discovered.
The Biodiversity Convention contains a separate statement about its appli-
cation at sea: 'Contracting Parties shall implement this convention with
respect to the marine environment consistently with the rights and obligations
of States under the law of the sea.' The law of the sea and the UNCLOS must
be taken into account when applying the Biodiversity Convention at sea. Yet,
it must be noted that maritime agreements are also in contradiction with the
Biodiversity Convention if they engender practices that can cause serious
damage or threats to biological diversity.
Promoting terrestrial and marine biological diversity are different tasks
because the sea is highly international and marine ecosystems are generally
more interconnected than terrestrial ecosystems. This has a considerable effect
on the promotion of biological diversity and the management of species and
ecosystems.