Governing Global Biodiversity--The Evolution and Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (review)

Although knowledge surrounding the loss of biodiversity is incomplete, states agreed that measures needed to be taken to preserve biodiversity, and adopted the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The CBD, considered by some as a landmark in international environmental law due to its all-encompassing nature, puts forward three objectives, namely the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. Arguably one of the main difficulties in governing biodiversity at the international level is the fact that biodiversity components lie, unlike for example the climate system, within the national jurisdiction of individual states. States thus retain the sovereign right to exploit and manage their natural resources.

Ten years following the CBD's adoption, Governing Global Biodiversity sets itself the ambitious goal of examining the implementation of the CBD and analysing its effectiveness by determining the extent to which it creates conditions that increase its ability to meet its objectives. To this end, the book is loosely organised around the two objectives of reviewing the CBD's emergence and evolution and examining specific aspects of the biodiversity regime, and of assessing challenges and aspects related to biodiversity management. As Le Prestre explains in his introductory chapter, the book "adopts a specific level of analysis that looks into the normative and political changes that the regime fosters and examines several key determinants of effectiveness..." (p.5). Providing a background to the study of regime effectiveness, Le Prestre argues that effectiveness is achieved if a regime contributes to a new form of governing the environment, and furthers the creation of conditions that enable stakeholders to address the environmental challenges addressed by a regime. Fitting for a topic of interdisciplinary nature, the book's fourteen essays are written by an interdisciplinary group of scholars from political science, law, biology, development economics and political sociology. The noteworthy combination of essays dealing with the CBD's governance, theoretical considerations and national case-studies lend the Governing Global Biodiversity particular interest.

With regard to the book's first objective of reviewing the emergence and evolution of the CBD, McGraw and Pythoud & Thomas examine the negotiations and key characteristics of the CBD and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety respectively. Despite a significant body of scholarship on this matter, the two essays are refreshingly insightful and form a solid starting point for the book, highlighting that negotiation processes influence a regime's implementation and play a central part in determining its effectiveness.

Treaty institutions have long been recognised as crucial in promoting regime implementation. Lyster famously termed the 1940 Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere a 'sleeping treaty' as its failure to establish an institutional structure resulted in the absence of its implementation. Cognisant of this importance, Le Prestre assesses in a lucid essay the challenges faced by the institutional structure and efforts made towards addressing these in order to further the convention's implementation. Building on this essay, Reed focuses on transparency by examining the CBD's Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM). He argues that while it serves as a tool for disseminating regime standards and Parties' national reports and action plans, it falls short of contributing optimally to treaty effectiveness by failing to reach all actors involved in national and local decision-making processes. Wolf extends the analysis of implementation tools by examining the Advance Informed Agreement Procedure which lies at the heart of the Cartagena Protocol.

As to the book's second objective of examining challenges and issues pertaining to biodiversity management, several authors investigate the CBD's role in building a new international order by changing the norms and rules that govern relations between groups. Blais considers the challenge in fulfilling the CBD's objective...