Excessive usage of wildlife is the second most common cause of species decline on our planet, and thus one of the direct threats to biodiversity. Since biodiversity has a virtually existential significance for the well-being of people, it needs to be cared for in order to slow down its decline. The aim of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate legal regulations at the international, EU, and Czech level, to present the instruments and institutes used to regulate the trade in CITES specimens, and to propose solutions for potential problems. Where deemed necessary or appropriate, a comparison of international legal regulations with EU and Czech legislation is made. This thesis is divided into 6 chapters that are further internally subdivided into subchapters. The first chapter deals with the importance of trade in endangered species of fauna and flora in relation to the loss of biodiversity. The second chapter provides an overview of the legal regulation governing trade in endangered species at different levels (international, EU, and Czech). The third chapter introduces the individual bodies responsible for the implementation of the Convention CITES (or Regulation No. 338/97) at international, EU, and Czech level. The Czech national authorities are classified according to the Act no. 100/2004 by the...

An international trade in endangered species of plants and animals is regulated by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Information on trades are available in CITES Trade Database. However, there are a lot of mistakes and discrepancies in this database that lead to inaccurate interpretation of data. The aim of this thesis was to: (1) identify mistakes in the database, record types and their possible ways of interpretation and (2) quantify the volumes of trade based on different ways of data interpretations in selected species of the family Ursidae. There were found 19 different combinations of missing data, except by unlisted unit and traded quantity specified only by one state of the trade and 5 types of record interpretation. Data were compared with the CITES annual records reported by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. This thesis contains also recommendations for evaluation of international trade.

This dissertation provides a descriptive-analytic study of the reasons and influences underlying Japan's less than progressive policy record on wildlife preservation, domestically and globally, since 1980. This research is important for a number of reasons, but mainly it helps us to test a number of theoretical models about: policy-making in Japan; Japanese environmental diplomacy; social movements; and corporatism. I hypothesise that apart from a common sense of purpose that binds the different policy actors together, Japan's poor record on wildlife preservation is a derivative of the way environmental NGOs have been marginalised and excluded from the policy process. This hypothesis links to Japan's public safety, and food and economic security concerns whereby these concerns tend to frame and guide policy-making on wildlife and nature issues. Using case study and participant observation methodologies to gather empirical evidence, this dissertation analyses both Japanese state behaviour towards global and domestic wildlife issues, and the changing relationships between the Japanese state, foreign pressure and environmental NGOs, in order to confirm or deny the hypothesis. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Ramsar Convention are the two environmental regimes which provide the context and issues for the analyses. The research concludes that there is convincing evidence to support the hypothesis. The research also reveals the positive, although subtle, sea changes which are occurring in Japanese environmental politics in the light of the continuing changes taking place in both Japan's broader political economy and in the international community.

The implications of urban expansion as a dynamic, evolutionary process are far from self evident. Such problems as the ecologically sound allocation of land resources and the orderly provision of essential services in urban fringe areas, are not being solved. The importance of the rural-urban land conversion process, in long range planning for metropolitan regions, requires that a method be found for describing the likelihood of the rate, extent and location of urban expansion. Within this context the study is concerned with firstly, the shortcomings of present methods for examining and forecasting urban expansion. It is pointed out that the regional planner needs to understand the dynamics of land assignment, in the urban expansion process, if he is to know in advance the probable consequences of his actions and be able to fulfil planning objectives. That this elementary point is frequently ignored or misunderstood can be seen in the attempts to prescribe how a process should behave, instead of first trying to discover how it does behave. This is most noticeable where techniques are used which entail optimization or conditional prediction, based on generalized and unrealistic assumptions of human values and behaviour. As a result, the dynamics of change, including the influence of chance events, are usually left unaccounted for in actions subsequently taken. Restrictive zoning is an example, which more often than not seeks to force rather than fit or guide urban development. Secondly, a simulation model of rural-urban land conversion is developed for the Vancouver Regional Simulation Project, to demonstrate the advantages of experimental strategies and synthetic models in regional planning. The viewpoint is taken that urban expansion can be represented as a spatial diffusion process. When formulated stochastically, spatial diffusion processes account for uncertainty in land assignment practices. The model is organized in a regional systems framework, with structural properties (i.e., thresholds, boundaries, and lags), and feedback interactions, represented, to reflect the complex and dynamic nature of urban expansion. It is emphasized that the future cannot be forecast, on the basis of past and present conditions, with sufficient reliability for long range planning purposes. While it is implicit in the model formulated that emerging patterns of rural and urban land use bear some functional relationships to historical patterns, they are not constrained from evolving into new and different forms. Special attention is paid to change and chance mechanisms to avoid indiscriminate extrapolation of present trends. The experimental nature of the model is considered its greatest strength. Because it facilitates experimental monitoring and regulation of process behaviour, we are made more aware of critical thresholds and capacity limits within metropolitan regional systems. Consequently, planning policies, compatible with the dynamic urban expansion process, can be devised with greater assurance of their success, and regional planning goals can be achieved more readily. Thus the approach is submitted as a progressive step beyond the traditional reliance on specific predictions, as a primary basis for regional planning. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

No / This chapter summarises AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme-funded research to develop a digital resource to disseminate knowledge of the identification of osseous and keratinous animal hard tissues. The choice of materials in the manufacture of individual artefacts or classes of objects can make a major contribution to understanding their cultural significance and questions of provenance or authenticity. This resource builds on understanding gained through a Fellowship to O’Connor in developing, evaluating and validating identification criteria for these materials in raw, worked and decayed states. The resource concentrates on the non-destructive visual methods of particular relevance to the examination of artworks, historic and archaeological artefacts. The chapter highlights the potential of various visualisation methods and digital technologies to capture and combine 2D images and 3D models and guide the viewer through the multi-scalar visual cues of each material to a reliable identification. By accessing a range of collections, the project has produced a comprehensive and accessible resource, disseminating these findings more widely than could be achieved by a physical reference collection. This resource supports the identification of cultural heritage objects for conservation scientists and heritage professionals and informs the fight against the illegal hunting and trafficking of rare and endangered species. / VAHT was funded through an AHRC-EPSRC Science and Heritage Programme Research Development Award (AH/K006169/1) that developed directly from Sonia O'Connor's AHRC/EPSRC Science & Heritage Programme Fellowship (AH/H032150/1)—Cultural Materials Worked in Skeletal Hard Tissues (COWISHT).

The subject of my thesis is the regulation of international trade in endangered species. An excessive trade in endangered species is one of the main causes of biodiversity loss on the Earth. The biodiversity loss constitutes a serious worldwide problem and threatens the stability of all the ecosystems. It is becoming more urgent by the fact that the speed of species extinction or at least their inclusion in the lists of endangered species is getting faster. Especially an illegal trade in endangered species is considered one of the largest and the most profitable. I have chosen this topic with the aim to show legal methods and ways of the regulation of the excessive exploitation of wildlife. The question of the regulation of the international trade is examined from the international perspective, the perspective of the European Union law and as well from the czech law perspective. A considerable stress is put on the description and explanation of the operation of the international trade regulation system regarding that an effective slowdown of the biodiversity loss phenomenon or its stop can be only possible by the international cooperation of the countries. The remaining levels of the regulation must be in compliance with the international level of the regulation. The thesis is consisted of six...

Depuis plus de 30 ans, la Colombie construit sa politique de préservation des espèces faunistiques et de lutte contre le trafic illégal de ces espèces. Ce cadre institutionnel national s’est vu renforcé par la ratification de la convention CITES (Convention sur le commerce international des espèces de la flore et de la faune sauvages menacées d’extinction) en 1981. Pourtant, ce cadre institutionnel ne suffit pas à infléchir sur le trafic illégal des tortues marines en Colombie. L’analyse des failles du mode de régulation de type « commande et contrôle » montre les limites de l’intervention de l’Etat comme seul modèle possible à gérer le trafic illicite de tortues marines. D’où ma proposition de concevoir et mettre en place un mécanisme de quotas négociables de tortues marines décroissants dans le temps, renforcé par arrangements contractuels. Cette thèse a pour objectif de comparer l’efficacité de ces deux modes de gouvernance à réduire le trafic illégal de tortues marines, du point de vue la performance environnementale, de l’efficacité économique et de l’équité sociale. J’ai évalué les coûts de transactions pour démontrer que la variation dans la structure des coûts de transactions et la distribution de ces coûts auprès des acteurs concernés influent sur la performance finale du cadre institutionnel. Une analyse coûts-avantage a été réalisée pour justifier d’un changement institutionnel, en complément de l’analyse des coûts de transactions. Cette étude s’est situe au nord de la Colombie, sur un territoire de 30 km, territoire des indigènes Wayùu, étant le plus concerné par le trafic illégal de tortues vertes (Chelonia mydas) et tortues à écailles (Eretmochelys imbricata). / For over 30 years, Colombia built its national policy to protect wildlife species against the illegal traffic. The national institutional framework was strengthened by the ratification of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of flora and fauna threatened with extinction) in 1981. However, this institutional framework is not sufficient to curb the illegal trade of marine turtles species. Despite some success to protect and recover some species, what really matters is the effectiveness of the national policy to conserve wildlife species. Hence my proposal to design and implement a cap and trade system based on transferable quotas decreasing in time, reinforced by contractual arrangements. This self-organized system aims at having zero catches level and enhance conformity and cooperation within the environmental regulation. This thesis aims to compare the efficacy of these two modes of governance to reduce the illegal trade of sea turtles based on the following criteria: the environmental performance, economic efficiency and social equity. I pursuit by estimating the corresponding transaction costs to show that the variation in the structure of transaction costs and the distribution of these costs among stakeholders affect the final performance of the institutional framework. Cost-benefit analysis was performed to justify institutional change, in addition to the analysis of transaction costs. This study is located in the north of Colombia, an area of 30 km, indigenous Wayuu territory, being more concerned with the illegal green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata).

<p>Humans’ hunting for ivory has had a serious impact of the African elephant population. Ivory has throughout history been a symbol of manhood and status. As the market of ivory expanded to the rest of the world, the market demand for ivory became higher than what the elephants could manage to provide. In the 1980’s, the African elephant population was threatened by extension and it was reduced with 50 percent in ten years. For this reason, CITES placed the African elephant population under a ban, which made it an illegal act to trade ivory and other elephant parts.</p>

The purpose of the thesis is to describe international, EU and Czech wildlife trade laws by identifying the regulatory measures established at these levels of law and examining them from the perspective of each. It further seeks to analyze how CITES obligations governing these measures are incorporated into the EU and Czech legislation and investigate whether they are likely implemented inadequately or, conversely, more strictly. Additionally, it points out some of the potential problems of the current legal framework as well. The thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter one explains the goals of environmental policy in the area of nature conservation and biodiversity protection related to wildlife trade and reasons for the very existence of its regulation. Chapter two is concerned with general aspects of wildlife trade law such as its objective, purpose, principles and role within environmental law. Chapter three outlines the main and also some other relevant sources of law. Chapter four determines the principal regulatory measures which are contained within the legal regime in order to enable it to achieve its objectives. The fifth chapter then focuses on two groups of legal means designed to ensure the compliance of CITES parties and to enforce the provisions of EU and Czech wildlife trade legislation...

Ce m??moire s???int??resse ?? l?????mergence du groupe autochtone Mal??cite entre 1600 et 1750. L???hypoth??se d??fendue soutient que les Mal??cites sont apparus suite ?? des regroupements intertribaux forc??s par le choc microbien, les guerres coloniales et les modifications ??conomiques, culturelles et socio-politiques induites par la colonisation. Ce m??moire part d???un ?? probl??me d???identit?? ?? souvent relev?? chez les Mal??cites et tente d?????claircir leur provenance r??elle, ?? l???aide d???une relecture des sources sous l???angle du concept d???ethnogen??se intra-am??rindienne, ouvrant ainsi la voie ?? un aspect m??connu et inusit?? de l???histoire autochtone, ?? savoir les cons??quences internes et identitaires de cette formidable rencontre que fut le contact.