Our Motivation
When we started working on illegal wildlife trade issues, there was a mainstream focus on criminal law and its deterrent effect. There still is. Although a necessary tool, it arrives too often too late for many specimens and species: once species are at the brink of extinction, no imprisonment penalty will bring them back.
We asked ourselves what law could do to intervene before harm is done. So, we developed an interest in what other areas of law can do to contribute to combat biodiversity degradation.
We asked ourselves what law could do to intervene before harm is done. So, we developed an interest in what other areas of law can do to contribute to combat biodiversity degradation.
- As a preventive tool. Tapping into the potential of private law, like South Africa which recognizes land owners as the custodians of biodiversity on their own land and create incentives for owners to protect it through Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements. Or like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin, both countries that acknowledge the rights of Indigenous People over the land they inhabit, granting them rights to manage and protect the forest’s flora and fauna resources.
- As a deterrent tool. Using criminal law effectively, working on better enforcement and looking beyond conservation crimes such as money laundering and corruption. As a co-existence tool, religious law may prove to be effective in certain communities, like in the Indonesian Council of Ulama, where, in 2014 a Fatwa declared IWT haram (haram is an act that is considered forbidden per Islamic law).
- As a restoration and compensation tool. Protecting biodiversity is not enough, we have to bring it back to balance. Law may help in doing this using liability to hold offenders accountable for the harm they caused and requiring to give back to nature what was taken from it by restoring as much as possible.