Abstract
Fences, walls and other barriers are proliferating along international borders on a global scale. These border fences not only affect people, but can also have unintended but important consequences for wildlife, inter alia by curtailing migrations and other movements, by fragmenting populations and by causing direct mortality, for instance through entanglement. Large carnivores and large herbivores are especially vulnerable to these impacts. This article analyses the various impacts of border fences on wildlife around the world from a law and policy perspective, focusing on international wildlife law in particular. Relevant provisions from a range of global and regional legal instruments are identified and analysed, with special attention for the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species and the European Union Habitats Directive.
Highlights
The last few decades have witnessed a proliferation of security and other fences along jurisdictional boundaries across the globe, culminating in the recent, hasty construction of border fences by several European countries to stem refugee flows.[1]
This concerns the scale at which Member States are expected to achieve and maintain a favourable conservation status (FCS) for species covered by the Directive, and may be illustrated with reference to the somewhat enigmatic condition from Article 16 that a derogation from strict protection may only be allowed if it is ‘not detrimental to the maintenance of the populations of the species
If the analysis above demonstrates one thing, it is that the issues raised by border fences deserve serious attention from policy and decision makers, conservationists, researchers and other stakeholders in the field ofnational wildlife law and policy
Summary
Border fences and their impacts on large carnivores, large herbivores and biodiversity - an international wildlife law perspective Trouwborst, Arie; Fleurke, Floor; Dubrulle, Jennifer. Publication date: 2016 Document Version Publisher's PDF, known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal. Border fences and their impacts on large carnivores, large herbivores and biodiversity - an international wildlife law perspective. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, 25(3), 291-306. Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. Border Fences and their Impacts on Large Carnivores, Large Herbivores and Biodiversity: An
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