Abstract: While analysis of the effectiveness of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) often focuses on its ability to ensure sustainable trade in the species it regulates, the treaty also contains many provisions intended to ensure the welfare of species introduced into international trade. While such provisions serve salutary objectives, they are often complied with only in the breach. Efforts should be made by the Parties to CITES to ensure implementation of the animal welfare provisions of CITES through stricter enforcement measures, enactment of national legislation, and an interpretation of treaty provisions that promotes the underlying welfare objectives of the Convention.

Abstract: Various states (and groups of states such as the European Community) have adopted legislation designed to raise standards of animal welfare in many areas, including agriculture, companion animals, experimentation and testing, transport, and hunting and trapping methods. Much of this legislation has resulted from extensive lobbying and intense political wrangling. Where the legislation affects animals as products (or animal derivative products such as their pelts or their meat), legislators frequently resort to external facing trade measures to support the moral stance taken in the legislative instrument. At this point, potential conflicts with the precepts of the multilateral trade regime operated by the World Trade Organisation arise. The extent to which the relevant provisions in the WTO portfolio of agreements (and the predecessor text of the GATT) assist the cause of animal welfare is limited by both the texts themselves and the narrow interpretation of those texts by WTO/GATT dispute panels. Non-governmental organizations involved with animal welfare issues are concerned that the WTO regime will inhibit the development of animal welfare protection legislation and are also concerned that the net result may be a retardation of the development of animal welfare measures in the face of open market competition. This article explores the background to, and substance of, this contention, particularly in the content of the European and International legislation designed to deal with the welfare of trapped wild animals, and also with other animal welfare legislation having international trade implications. Moreover, the findings of such an examination have much broader implications in that they have relevance to any legislation based on public morality which seeks to enforce that mortality through external-facing trade measures.

Abstract: The Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) is the second regional accord to conserve cetaceans entered into the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in what ultimately may become a set of interlocking regional agreements. The article assesses the prospects for ACCOBAMS to contribute to the protection of cetaceans in an area of the world fraught with perils for marine species. It examines the primary threats to cetaceans; outlines the negotiating history of ACCOBAMS and its key provisions; and briefly assesses the treaty’s prospects and suggests means of strengthening its framework.

Abstract: The 49^th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission focused on several critical issues, including the Irish proposal for limited resumption of commercial whaling operations, the Makah proposal for subsistence quotas under the aboriginal whaling provisions of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, and efforts to assess the possible impacts of environmental degradation on cetacean species. The article discusses these issues and looks forward to the issues that the parties to the IWC will face at the 50^th meeting.

Abstract: The article assesses the prospects for the Lusaka Agreement on Co-Operative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora, a new approach by countries of Eastern and Southern Africa to address problems of enforcement of and compliance with multinational agreements concerning the illegal trade in wildlife. The article outlines the key provisions of the Agreement and concludes that while the Agreement holds great potential it suffers from a lack of enforcement powers, an absence of legal harmonization among the Parties and an insufficiency of funds for its Task Force to commence operations.

Abstract: The Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles is the first international treaty exclusively dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles, ancient creatures that have inhabited the Earth for over 100 million years. The article discusses the biology of sea turtles and current threats to all seven species, outlines the origins of the Convention, outlines provisions of the Convention and discusses its future prospects. Beyond the possibility that the Convention may not receive sufficient ratifications to come into force, its viability may be threatened by insufficient funding, the lack of enforcement mechanisms and possible politicization of the Convention’s Scientific Committee decision making process.