Species Protection Law Research Articles

Article: EU Species Protection Law and Wind Energy: Current Challenges and Danish Experiences

This article highlights certain challenges as regards the reconciliation between concerns of climate change, energy security and biodiversity protection, drawing on case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the Danish experiences regarding onshore wind energy installations. The EU species protection rules are by many perceived as an obstacle to wind energy development as also reflected in the 2022 Commission proposal to amend the Renewable Energy Directive. However, it is not evident that the proposal will solve the challenges of accommodating the strict direct species protection of, in particular, Annex IV species and birds against deliberate killing or disturbance as determined by the CJEU. The article suggests that rather than setting aside the general environmental impact assessment (EIA) and appropriate assessment requirements for Natura 2000 sites, there is a need to revisit the Birds and Habitats Directives, in particular as regards ‘deliberate killing or disturbance’ caused by non-intentional activities with a view to the population level as opposed to the individual specimen level. European Union, Species protection, Biodiversity, Renewables, Wind energy

The Landscape Change in the Alps—What Postcards Have to Say about Aesthetic Preference

Land use changes in the Alps over the last few decades have been characterised by a significant increase in forest coverage as a result of the abandonment of marginal agricultural sites. Natural afforestation and species protection laws affected the ecosystem, and therefore the services provided by the mountain environment, including landscape structure and aesthetics, changed. This work assess the changes in the ecosystem services offered by forests since 1954 in a region of the Italian Alps. Some ES were estimated in this work with GIS, and others were taken from the literature or the authors’ previous works. Since the 1950s, forest ecosystem services such as growing stock, protection from hydro-geological hazards and carbon storage have increased. Deer and other forest species have risen in number. On the other hand, there has been a depletion of open space for priority habitats and species such as black grouse and capercaillie. Old postcards were used to understand land use change and people’s aesthetic preferences. To determine people’s preferences for the landscape, we used records of over 300,000 postcards, sold during nearly two decades. The most often chosen postcard portrayed a landscape of the 1970s with a mix of forest and open space, different from the scenario that the buyers could observe. The sales records for over 20 years of postcard business and the dates of the postcards that we obtained in this research allowed us to perform a quantitative analysis of landscape preferences. The main subject of the photo was a good predictor of the number of postcards sold, according to generalised linear models (GLM); and postcards of overly exploited landscapes, dense forest coverage or buildings were significantly less likely to be chosen. Artificially reinstating open areas will boost biodiversity and could recreate a landscape that resembles the historical agro-ecosystem without interfering with the forest’s other functions. These findings will help managers and policy makers evaluate cultural ecosystem resources in the face of changing mountain landscapes.

Non-governmental Enforcement of EU Environmental Law: A Stakeholder Action for Wolf Protection in Finland

In a recent decision, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) sided with a small regional Finnish nature protection organization, Tapiola, interpreting EU law to require an end to wolf hunting in Finland. Much of the hunting of wolves and other large carnivores throughout the EU will also be impacted by this decision. Through this case, local stakeholders were able to utilize EU law to access national courts as well as the EU courts, to bring about national compliance with EU species protection law. This article analyzes the process of using law as a tool for environmental protection in the EU, and the challenges and opportunities therein. It also illuminates the different roles and outcomes for stakeholders in pursuing national compliance with EU law in direct actions and references for preliminary rulings.

Wolf Conservation and Removal of Wolves in Germany – Status quo and Prospects

In Germany, the wolf population develops in a very dynamic manner. As a result, politics and society increasingly worry about human safety and whether the return of the wolf can be kept compatible with pasture grazing. Plans by the federal states (Länder) for wolf management serve both to prepare society for the return of wolves and to deal with likely emerging conflicts. In exceptional cases, conflict management may include the ‘removal’ of wolves, i.e. the killing of individual ‘problem-wolves’. This paper analyses the legal prerequisites for the removal of wolves; it also addresses the conditions that must be met for wolf management to be placed under a new legal framework – beyond the exemption regime under species protection law. In this context, the ‘favourable conservation status’ of wolves plays a key role.

Poverty not taste drives the consumption of protected species in Madagascar

Bushmeat consumption in Madagascar is increasingly acknowledged as one of the major threats to its wild vertebrates. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the drivers of the consumption of protected versus legally huntable wild species, or examined its variance across Madagascar’s protected and unprotected areas. This research provides a novel study of the consumption of protected, unprotected, and fish/eel species between forest types (deciduous and rainforest), as well as across a gradient of protected habitat (National Park, Reserve, Unprotected). Members of 1750 households were interviewed across four regions, including two national parks, two reserves, and two unprotected forests. Household demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic variables were explored as possible predictors of bushmeat consumption. We found that poorer households reported consuming greater quantities of protected species whereas wealthier households reported consuming greater quantities of fish and eel. Households located inside Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Madagascar’s most visited protected area, reported consuming the greatest quantities of protected species. Interviewees’ most favoured meat was from livestock, and fish. The consumption pattern of wild species reflected interviewees’ stated preference for species that are either unlisted (e.g. tilapia fish) under Malagasy species protection laws, classified as pest (e.g. bushpig) and/or game species (e.g. tenrec). Most protected species (such as lemurs and carnivorans) were interviewees’ least favoured wild meats. Given the lack of cultural affinity, and low preference for the consumption of most protected species, our results suggest that improving accessibility to domestic meat is a promising strategy for reducing the consumption of protected species.

Wind Energy Projects and Species Protection Law: A Comparative Analysis of the Application of EU Law in Five Member States

Wind farms and their associated transmission infrastructure can have negative impact on biodiversity. Offshore wind farms, for example, can pose threats to animals like harbor porpoises and migrating birds and onshore wind farms and transmission grids may harm birds and bats.In this article we analyse how European Union species protection law is transposed and applied to decision-making on wind energy projects in five member states, namely Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. The analysis aims to understands the differences in the interpretation and application of national species protection law, point out deficiencies, and make recommendations, partly based on learning from best practices. Though transposition in national law is almost identical, implementation practice in these states varies substantially. The question in raised whether the legal regime, as currently applied, can be improved to serve the aims of a considerable increase of renewable energy sources whilst simultaneously protecting biodiversity.

Adversarial Legalism and Biodiversity Protection in the United States and the European Union

AbstractThis article compares the use of litigation to enforce species protection law in the European Union (EU) with that of the United States (US). Recent legal disputes over wolf hunting on both continents offer useful case studies. Focusing on three aspects of litigation – namely, (i) against whom claims are brought, (ii) who can bring claims, and (iii) the types of claim that can be brought – the analysis contrasts US-style adversarial legalism with its European counterpart, or ‘Eurolegalism’, and assesses what each approach is able to deliver in terms of the legal protection of wolves. It is argued that Eurolegalism helps to explain the development of species protection law in the EU and its similarities to and differences from the American experience.

Legal Pathways for a Massive Increase in Utility-Scale Renewable Generation Capacity

Decarbonizing the U.S. energy system will require a program of building onshore wind, offshore wind, utility-scale solar, and associated transmission that will exceed what has been done before in the United States by many times, every year out to 2050. These facilities, together with rooftop photovoltaics and other distributed generation, are required to replace most fossil fuel generation and to help furnish the added electricity that will be needed as many uses currently employing fossil fuels (especially passenger transportation and space and water heating) are electrified. This Article, excerpted from Michael B. Gerrard & John Dernbach, eds., Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (ELI Press forthcoming 2018), discusses the four most important legal processes and obstacles involved in this enormous project: site acquisition and approval; the National Environmental Policy Act; state and local approvals; and species protection laws. It also presents recommendations for lowering the obstacles and briefly discusses several corollary actions that are needed.

Politics, Science, and Species Protection Law: A Comparative Consideration of Southern and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

ABSTRACTThe southern and Atlantic bluefin tunas are highly valuable and heavily fished, such that there are concerns over the biomass of each species. While sharing some similarities, the species are managed in different geographical, political, and socioeconomic contexts. This article examines the complexities of managing these highly migratory species, recognizing that developments in science, most notably in ocean tracking, have a significant potential to improve management. Notwithstanding such developments, the critical element in management of bluefin tuna species remains political commitments to sustainable catches.

Critical habitat for threatened and endangered species: How should the economic costs be evaluated?

The designation of critical habitat is a feature of endangered species protection laws in many countries. Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, economics cannot enter into decisions to list species as threatened or endangered, but can be considered when critical habitat is designated. Areas can be excluded from proposed critical habitat if the economic cost of including them is determined to exceed the benefits of inclusion, and exclusion would not result in extinction of the species. The economic analysis done to support critical habitat exclusions has been controversial, and the focus of much litigation. We evaluate a sample of these analyses, and discuss the exclusions that were made in each case. We discuss how the methodology used to measure economic costs of critical habitat has changed over time and provide a critique of these alternative methods. We find that the approach currently in use is sound from an economic perspective. Nevertheless, quantification of the costs of critical habitat faces numerous challenges, including great uncertainty about future events, questions about the appropriate scale for the analysis, and the need to account for complex market feedbacks and values of non-market goods. For the studies we reviewed, there was no evidence that the results of the economic analyses provided information that was useful for making decisions about exemptions from critical habitat designations. If economics is to play a meaningful role in determining endangered species protections, an alternative would be to allow listing decisions to be based on economic as well as biological factors, as is typical for species conservation laws in other countries.

Endangered Neoliberal Suburbanism? The Use of the Federal Endangered Species Act as a Growth Management Tool in Southern California

In the United States, new environmental policy instruments have emerged to address some of the economic, social and environmental contradictions of neoliberal urbanism. Amongst these instruments, regional habitat conservation planning under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is becoming de facto a suburban growth management tool widely deployed across different parts of Southern California. One reason why speculator-developers, property owners, conservationists, planners, municipalities and other suburban interests have bought into this tool is due to the growing link between the federal protection of endangered species and the availability of voter-approved funds for major road infrastructure projects. Evidence of this link is examined in the context of two regional conservation planning processes underway in Riverside County. The paper argues that inadvertently the Federal ESA has been transformed from a species protection law into a regulatory tool with which to co-ordinate private land development, public infrastructure provision and habitat conservation in suburbanising regions.

Evidence for the effects of environmental engagement and education on knowledge of wildlife laws in Madagascar

AbstractRules are fundamental to the implementation of conservation policies, but cannot change behavior if they are not known or understood. Despite this, few studies have investigated knowledge of conservation rules or factors influencing it. Here, we quantify the effects of involvement with tourism and community‐based natural resource management, education and demographic factors on local people's awareness of Madagascar's species protection laws. Knowledge of the laws was generally low. However, those who worked as tourist guides, hosted tourists, and were involved in local forest management committees were almost twice as likely to classify correctly a species as protected compared with individuals not exposed to conservation messages in this way. This year marks 50 years since Madagascar introduced its first species protection law. It is time to recognize that rules are necessary, but not sufficient, for species protection and to devote more attention to the communication, and enforcement, of conservation rules.

Managing the Carnivore Comeback: International and EU Species Protection Law and the Return of Lynx, Wolf and Bear to Western Europe

Lynx, wolves and brown bears are returning to areas in Western Europe from which they have long been absent. This raises specific questions, not only concerning the effective conservation of transboundary carnivore populations, but also regarding potential consequences for livestock, hunting, human safety and the like. Intense popular debates tend to ensue wherever large predators reappear. The response by public authorities, however, must respect the limits imposed by international and European nature conservation obligations. This article is intended to bring these limits into focus by introducing and analyzing relevant species protection regimes, chiefly the Bern Convention and the European Union’s Habitats Directive. Legal issues are addressed regarding conservation status, prohibitions, derogations and transboundary management plans. Also addressed is the interesting predicament of ‘frontier states’ like the Netherlands, which seem to provide the ultimate test case for the adaptive capacity of carnivores and conservation law alike.

Assessing Experience in Articulating Species Protection Policies with Land Use Policies in California

California's experience implementing species protection laws illustrates both the necessity and challenges of articulating those policies with land use policies. Species protection increasingly relies on habitat protection achieved through land use controls. However, species protection policies are not well articulated with land use policies. The causes of this separation include a conceptual divide in theoretical orientation, different approaches to uncertainty in policy implementation and inadequate policy instruments.

Ecologists seek flexible protection rules

washington The Clinton administration will exempt landowners who help preserve natural habitat from paying additional expenses or obligations under species protection laws.