Early Efforts for international co-operation
The earliest conventional form of co-operation concerned with environment was aimed at clarifying jurisdictions and management of international waters especially boundary lakes and rivers Later these co-operative efforts also took over the responsibilities of environmental protection. However, the earliest conservation efforts truly concerned with wild life preservation involved:
- Migratory wild life.
- Living resources of the Sea.
(1) Migratory Wild Life:
Migratory wild life particularly birds were the first to receive international attention since no country could ensure their protection alone. National legislations being insufficient, international arrangement and treaties were invoked to extend protection across national boundaries so that the.
Entire migratory range of the organism could be covered. Probably the earliest efforts towards international co-operation was made by Swiss government in 1872 when it proposed establishment of an International Regulatory commission to protect migratory birds of Europe. Much earlier, at national levels many governments in Europe, inspired by economic interests of their country, had already undertaken conservation initiative in their own ways.
The Swiss proposal was discussed at International Ornithological congress in 1873, 1891, 1900 and it was finally in 1902 that the European Convention concerning the conservation of Birds useful to agriculture was signed in Paris by 11 nations. Though in-adequate in many respects the treaty was important as a commitment by national government to the idea of conservation of nature. It was expressive of the emergence of a new public attitude towards nature and environment.
The protection of migratory birds and animals of North America was a less complicated matter. In 1916, the Canadian-American treaty was signed for the Protection of Migratory Birds. The treaty was technically signed between America and Great Britain which represented Canada in foreign affairs.
The treaty enabled USA to invoke legislations establishing a Migratory birds Convention which began a system of wild life refuges that total nearly 30 million acres today. With a resolution^ United States’ Senate, efforts to extend protection to migratory birds and animals of Central and South American countries were begun in 1920. However, it was only after sixteen years that the treaty for Protection of Migratory Birds and Mammals of South Central America could be negotiated at Mexico in 1936. In 1940, the Convention on Nature protection and Wild life preservation in Western Hemisphere, which was sponsored by Pan-American Union, committed the signatories to develop parks reserves, nature monuments and wilderness areas. By 1942, 21 countries had ratified the treaty.
The African Convention relative to the Preservation of Flora and Fauna in their natural state was signed in London in 1933. Through the Convention the signatories were required to furnish information about measures taken for the protection of wild life to British Govt. which could pass it on to other parties. The convention was signed by European powers governing the Pre-world war-II Africa.
Following independence of many African countries new treaty was needed. It was only by 1968 that the African Convention for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources was approved and signed by 38 member states of Organization of African Unity (OAU).
(2) Living Resources of Sea :
Diminishing returns of living resources of sea, notably fishes, seals and whales, aroused concern in many maritime countries of the world by the end of nineteenth century. As conflicts over harvests developed, it was felt that division of produce, conservation of stocks, and enhancement of productivity of our seas needed a more specialized scientific management.
Thus while for the conservation of migratory wild life agreements and treaties were sufficient, for the conservation of living resources of seas international agencies and institutions had to be created. Later on the narrow economic premises of the governments were gradually enlarged into growing ecological awareness and concern for the ecosystem as a whole.
It was the decline of Northern Sea and North Atlantic fisheries which was responsible for the beginning of efforts to conserve and manage the living resources of sea. An International Council for the Exploration of sea was setup following organizational meetings in Stockholm in 1899 and Christiania (Oslo) in 1901.
The council was finally established with its headquarters at Copenhagen in 1902. In 1919, an International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of Mediterranean sea was established which was later supplemented by the General Fisheries Council for Mediterranean (GFMC) sponsored by Food and Agricultural Organization in 1949. It became operational only in 1952 when five countries ratified the agreement.
Northern American Council on Fisheries investigation created the framework for the International Commission for the North West Atlantic fisheries during 1920-1938 and a general plan to develop Regional Research Councils for the scientific exploration of seas in different parts of the world was evolved. Under the plan, Food and Agricultural organization sponsored the establishment of Indo-Pacific Fisheries Council in 1948. The process of organization of world’s fisheries on regional basis continues today also.
Investigations and research provide information and basis for the conservation of live resources of sea. But they do not conserve the resources. When legislations for the conservation of fisheries which usually involve checks on capture of smaller fishes or restrictions on fishing in a particular area, are enacted, troubles start. Freedom of seas and national rights are invoked to cover immediate economic interests of fishery industry. The Cold war between Iceland and Britain which lasted for about twenty five years beginning in 1952 is an example of such a trouble.
The first International effort to establish the world fisheries policy began when the League of Nations requested the International Council for exploration of Sea to create a committee to consider the possibility of formulating rules regarding exploitation of the products of sea. The Committee submitted its report on January 29, 1926. It was a far-sighted document but its recommendations were never implemented.
In 1955, at the request of the General Assembly of the United Nations an International Technical Conference on the conservation of living resources of the sea was held at Rome, at the Head quarters of Food and Health Organizations. The basic task of this conference was to assist the International Law Commission to draft articles on certain basic aspects of international regulation of fisheries.
The conference concerned itself almost entirely with the technical aspects – matters of legal and political nature were not taken up at all. For more than two decades the United Nations attempted to deal with the legal and political issues concerning marine resources as part of the Conferences on Law of the Sea (United Nations Conferences on Law of the Sea UNCL0S),first convened in 1958. As oceans present very large and specialized set of problems, the issue of conservation of living resources of sea was also not fully taken up at the Stockholm Conference in 1972.
Following rapid decline of Whales in North Atlantic, the first step towards International control of whaling industry was taken in 1920 with establishment of International Bureau of Whaling Statistics at Sandefjord in Norway. The co-operation with the Bureau was purely voluntary-all the countries participating in Whaling were requested to send complete information on their operations.
This was followed by The Convention on Regulation of Whaling in 1931 in Geneva, which was signed or ratified by twenty four nations by 1935. However, Japan and Soviet Union which were to play an important part in the extermination of whales did not ratify the treaty. The treaty was subsequently supplemented by an agreement by nine nations in 1937 and then by an amendment signed in 1938 which made this treaty simply a statement of good intentions. The beginning of World War II in 1939 drew a curtain on all these efforts.
After the end of the war at the initiative of United Nations a new International Whaling Conference was held in Washington in 1946 and an International Whaling Commission was established. A code for whaling industry was formulated and tie Commission was given powers to amend it without the necessity of a formal conference.
The record of International Whaling Commission since its creation in 1946 has been a story of its inability to overcome the stubborn resistance to defend the short term interests of whaling industry. Like an; other institutional arrangements its ineffectiveness was apparent from the very beginning.
Though most of the conservation efforts undertaken in early twentieth century met with little success, it was the efforts for the Fur-seal conservation which can be described as a successful endeavour. Nearly 80% of all fur-seals migrate to Pribilof Island to breed (which is under jurisdiction of USA) while travelling widely throughout the North Pacific Ocean. Indiscriminate killing of these animals threatened their survival. It was in 1911 that a Convention between United States and other powers providing for the preservation of Fur seals was signed. The agreement was periodical; revised and extended. The Convention has not been without criticisms and controversies, however, it has served its purpose and the fur seals are alive today.
