The Devolution of Conservation: Why CITES Must Embrace Community-Based Resource Management

Abstract

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) seeks to conserve plant and animal species through the regulation of international trade. CITES has traditionally encouraged its members to enforce its trade restrictions through the adoption of strict legislation and the nationalization of lands for use as protected areas. This “classical” approach to conservation, however, is ineffective in many developing countries, since they often lack the resources or political will necessary to enforce these measures. Additionally, by removing local communities’ ability to use, and therefore benefit from, the protected species, the classical approach can actually incentivize the communities to undermine the developing countries’ conservation efforts. This Article examines community-based natural resource management as a means of avoiding many of the problems associated with classical conservation efforts in developing countries. It analyzes the CITES Parties’ historical refusal to embrace a community-based approach to conservation and contends that CITES must encourage such an approach in order to ensure its future effectiveness and relevancy