Introduction to the AJIL Unbound Symposium on Elephant Law

Extract

In international environmental law, the elephant is an icon. Like other “charismatic megafauna” such as whales and pandas, the plight of the elephant has captured the imagination of the general public and generated a raft of international regulations. In efforts to protect the elephant, we can track many of the elements of international law that have been characteristic of the environmental field as a whole: historical beginnings in concerns to prevent the over-exploitation of a harvested species; the rise of notions of biodiversity that attribute intrinsic worth to nonhuman beings; the use of trade measures as part of international environmental agreements to aid enforcement efforts; the growing complexity of environmental problems with globalization; and the increasing inter-linkage of international environmental law with other fields of international law.