Chapter 11. Chapter 11: Preserving Biodiversity
What legal protections do endangered and threatened species have in the United States and internationally?
Guiding Question 11.4
What legal protections do endangered and threatened species have in the United States and internationally?
Why You Should Care
It can be easy to believe that lawmakers and politicians don’t care about biodiversity, but there are laws that have made a direct impact on the survival of endangered species. The U.S. Endangered Species Act prevents any action that will result in the extinction of a species. The ESA is controversial because it has at times conflicted with the interests of local residents and governments. For example, the discovery of a rare minnow temporarily halted construction of a hydroelectric dam that would provide cheap, clean power for thousands of families, and efforts to protect the habitat of the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest have interfered with profitable logging operations there.
Internationally, one of the best ways to protect endangered species has been to outlaw trade in products made from them. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international treaty that prevents the import or export of products made from endangered species like ivory and rhinoceros horn, or rare orchids.
Of course, there are also laws and programs, both nationally and internationally, that protect entire ecosystems like the U.S. National Park system and the International Biosphere Preserve system. Work in these systems isn’t focused on keeping an ecosystem frozen in time; rather, it involves research on the most effective means to protect and preserve entire ecosystem processes. Recently, the focus has also been to promote positive human interactions with ecosystems.
Test Your Vocabulary
Choose the correct term from the drop-down for each of the following definitions:
1. Clearly defined geographic spaces on land or at sea that are recognized, dedicated, and managed in order to achieve the long-term conservation of nature are called .
2. The international treaty that regulates global trade of selected species is the .
3. The international treaty that promotes sustainable use of ecosystems and biodiversity is the .
4. The primary federal law under which biodiversity is protected in the United States is the .
1.
As written, which of the following protects the greatest number of species?
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5.
The total area of Earth’s surface that is protected is now at least ________ what it was a century ago.
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