abstract: Many wildlife species that are essential to human livelihoods are targeted with the aim of extracting short-term benefits. Overexploitation, resulting from failed common-pool resource governance, has endangered the sustainability of large animal species, in particular. Rights-based approaches to wildlife conservation offer a possible path forward. In a wildlife market, property rights, or shares of an animal population, are allocated to resource users with interests in either harvest or preservation. Here, I apply the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework (Ostrom, 2009) to identify the conditions under which the ecological, social, and economic outcomes of a conservation market are improved compared to the status quo. I first consider three case studies (Bighorn sheep, white rhino, and Atlantic Bluefin tuna) all of which employ different market mechanisms. Based on the SES framework and these case studies, I then evaluate whether markets are a feasible management option for other socially and ecologically significant species, such as whales (and similar highly migratory species), and whether market instruments are capable of accommodating non-consumptive environmental values in natural resource decision making. My results suggest that spatial and temporal distribution, ethical and cultural relevance, and institutional histories compatible with commodification of wildlife are key SES subsystem variables. Successful conservation markets for cross-boundary marine species, such as whales, sea turtles, and sharks, will require intergovernmental agreements. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Biology 2014

Whale species face numerous man-made threats, such as pollution, whaling, climate change and whale-watching, that threaten their survival. International environmental law has several regulations in place that aim, either directly or indirectly, at conserving whales. To manage the dynamic and uncertain conditions in which whales live, it is important for the law to adopt a social-ecological resilience perspective. Whales can function in different social-ecological systems as exemplified by the system of whale-watching in Iceland. This thesis examines various legal regimes related to whale conservation and the extent to which they support or provide for resilience thinking. While the selected regimes demonstrate resilience features to varying degrees, direct references to resilience in international environmental law are rare. However, supplementary materials from a convention can also acknowledge the importance of embracing a resilience perspective. Legal regimes that promote social-ecological resilience may enhance the law's ability to protect and manage whale species in a more sustainable manner.