Abstract
Wilderness areas are characterized by a relatively high degree of naturalness, the absence of proof of modern human society (e.g. roads, buildings, bridges, motorized transportation) and a relatively large size (Dudley, N. (Ed.). (2008). Guidelines for applying protected area management categories. Gland: IUCN. Available at: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2008-028.pdf). Worldwide, wilderness areas are becoming more scarce and this chapter focuses on the role of law in protecting such areas. The discussion starts with an analysis of the historic human-nature attitude in Western society and how this attitude has influenced legal concepts regarding private property on land and territorial sovereignty. It will be shown that these concepts have stimulated active land transformation by humankind and that (as a consequence) wilderness protection is not embedded in our Western legal roots. Next, the discussion focuses on the response to the increasing awareness of the downside of modern human civilization: a changing human-nature attitude in the Nineteenth Century and the adoption of a large number of international nature protection conventions in the Twentieth Century. However, all this ‘law making’ has not resulted in comprehensive wilderness protection at the global or regional level, which may be explained by a number of important weaknesses in these conventions and their implementation. Probably, many of these weaknesses have much to do with weaknesses of humankind itself, such as the difficulty to accept limitations to our social and economic ambitions and our disability to deal with accumulative impacts. Against the background of these discussions, the final part of this chapter discusses options for strengthening wilderness protection with an emphasis on the importance of making deliberate policy choices to protect wilderness.
This chapter builds on Kees Bastmeijer, Introduction: An international history of wilderness protection and central aim of this book. In: Wilderness Protection in Europe. The Role of International, European and National Law, Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aristotle. (350 b.c). The politics, A treatise on government. translation from the Greek original by William Ellis, London & Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd./New York: E.P. Duton &. Co, first issue in 1912, reprinted in 1919, 1923, 1928. Available at: www.gutenberg.org/files/6762/6763-h/6762-h.htm
Baakman, K. (2011). Testing times: The effectiveness of five international biodiversity-related conventions. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers.
Balch, T. W. (1910). The arctic and Antarctic regions and the law of nations. American Journal of International Law, 4, 265–275.
Bastmeijer, C. J. (2009). Protecting polar wilderness: Just a western philosophical idea or a useful concept for regulating human activities in the polar regions? In G. Alfredsson, T. Koivurova, & D. Leary (Eds.), The yearbook of polar law (Vol. 1, pp. 73–99). Boston/Leiden: Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1295430
Bastmeijer. C. J., & Roura, R. (2008). Environmental impact assessment in Antarctica. In C. J. Bastmeijer, & T. Koivurova (Eds.), Theory and practice of transboundary environmental impact assessment (pp. 175–219). Leiden: Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1297285
Bastmeijer, K. (2016). Introduction: An international history of wilderness protection and central aim of this book. In K. Bastmeijer (Ed.), Wilderness protection in Europe. The role of international, European and national law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bell, S. A., Henry, J. F., & Randall Wray, L. (2004). A chartalist critique of John Locke’s theory of property, accumulation, and money: Or, is it moral to trade your nuts for gold? Review of Social Economy, 62(1), 51–65. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0034676042000183826
Birnie, P., Boyle, A., & Redgewell, C. (2009). International law & the environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bowland, M. J. (1988–1989). The protection of animals under international law. Connecticut Journal of International Law, 4, 487–499.
Caddell, R. (2005). International law and the protection of migratory wildlife: An appraisal of twenty-five years of the Bonn convention. Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy, 16(113), 113–156. Available at: http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/colenvlp16&div=10&id=&page
Carver, S. (2016). Mapping wilderness in Europe. In K. Bastmeijer (Ed.), Wilderness protection in Europe: The role of international, European and national law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carver, S., & Tin, T. (2013). Mapping and modelling wilderness values in Antarctica. Leeds: Wildland Research Institute, University of Leeds. Available at http://www.ats.aq/documents/ATCM36/att/ATCM36_att116_e.pdf
CEP. (2004). Report of the VIIth meeting of the CEP, Cape Town. Available at: http://cep.ats.aq/cep/MediaItems/atcm27_cepvii_e.pdf
Cliteur, P. (2001). Darwin, Dier en Recht. Essay available at: http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/Darwin%20%20dier%20en%20recht.pdf
Cliteur, P. (2005). De filosofie van dierenrechten. In J. Braeckman, B. de Reuver, & T. Vervisch (Eds.), Ethiek van DNA tot 9/11 (pp. 135–159). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Available at: http://media.leidenuniv.nl/legacy/De%20filosofie%20van%20de%20dierenrechten.pdf
COMNAP. (2013). Main Antarctic facilities operated by the National Antarctic programs in the Antarctic treaty area. Available at: https://comnap.aq/Members/Shared%20Documents/Antarctic_Facilities_list_15May2013.xls
Cronon, W. (1995). The trouble with wilderness; or, getting back to the wrong nature. In W. Cronon (Ed.), Uncommon ground: Rethinking the human place in nature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Available at http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~ghawkins/radical/docs/Cronon_Trouble_w_Wilderness.pdf
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray.
De Dreu, C. (2010). Verbinden als sociaal dilemma. Idee, 31, 10–13.
De Vattel, E. (1758). Le Droit des gens (Quotations taken from the English translation by Joseph Chitty (1867): The Law of Nations). Philadelphia: Johnson & Co.
Dearden, P. (1989). Wilderness and our common future. Natural Resources Journal, 29, 205–221.
Deinet, S., Ieronymidou, C., McRae, L., Burfield, I. J., Foppen, R. P., Collen, B., & Böhm, M. (2013). Wildlife comeback in Europe: The recovery of selected mammal and bird species. Final report to Rewilding Europe by ZSL, BirdLife International and the European Bird Census Council. London: ZSL. Available at: http://static.zsl.org/files/wildlife-comeback-in-europe-the-recovery-of-selected-mammal-and-bird-species-2576.pdf
DeMello, M. (2012). Animals and society. An introduction to human-nature studies. New York: Columbia University Press.
Doremus, H. (1999). The special importance of ordinary places. Environmental Law & Policy Journal, 23(3). Available at http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/facpubs/511
Dudley, N. (Ed.). (2008). Guidelines for applying protected area management categories. Gland: IUCN. Available at: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2008-028.pdf
Fisher, M. (2016). Ecological values of wilderness in Europe. In K. Bastmeijer (Ed.), Wilderness protection in Europe: The role of international, European and national law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Francioni, F. (1994). Liability for damage to the common environment: The case of Antarctica. RECIEL, 3, 223.
Goodricht, G. (1951). The United Nations conference on resources. International Organization, 5(1), 48–60.
Gorter, H. P. (1956). Fifty years ‘Natuurmonumenten’ (nature reserves). In Vijftig jaar natuurbescherming in Nederland (pp. 11–66). Amsterdam: Drukkerij De Volharding. Commemorative book on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Nature (in the Netherlands).
Grotius, H. (1609). Mare Liberum, The Freedom of the Seas (Translated with a revision of the Latin text of 1633 by Van Deman Magoffin, R. (1916)). New York: Oxford University Press.
Huxley, T. H. (1863). Evidence as to man’s place in nature. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Also available at https://archive.org/details/evidenceastomans00huxl
IUCN. (2004). International environmental governance: An international regime for protected areas. Gland: IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper 49.
Jeffery, M. I. (2004). An international legal regime for protected areas. In John Scanlon, & Burhenn-Guilmin (Ed.), International environmental governance (pp. 9–40). Gland: IUCN. Available at https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/EPLP-049.pdf
King Hubbert, M. (1969). Energy Resources. In National Research Council – Division of Earth Sciences – Committee of Resources and Man. Resources and man (Vol. 238). San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Koester, V. (2012). Book review of Baakman’s ‘testing times: The effectiveness of five international biodiversity-related conventions’. RECIEL, 21(1), 67–70.
Kormos, C. F., & Locke, H. (2008). Introduction. In C. F. Kormos (Ed.), A handbook on international wilderness law and policy. Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, Golden.
Kuiters, A. T. et al. (2012). Guidelines for the management of wilderness and wild areas in Natura 2000. Brussels: European Commission. Available at: http://portal.icnb.pt/NR/rdonlyres/773250A6-7A20-4F4E-A944-255E90D82E73/0/GuidelinesWilderness_2012.pdf
Linklater, A. (2013). Owning the earth: The transforming history of land ownership. New York: Bloomsbury.
Locke, J. (1690). The second treatise of government. Available at: http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Locke/second/second-frame.html
Lowenthal, D. (2000). Nature and morality from George Perkins Marsh to the millennium. Journal of Historical Geography, 26(1), 3–27. Available at: http://geography.fullerton.edu/taylor/ENST595T/Lowenthal_JHG.pdf
Macnab, R. (2009). “Use it or lose it” in Arctic Canada: Action agenda or election hype? Vermont Law Review, 34, 2–14. Available at http://lawreview.vermontlaw.edu/files/2012/02/macnab.pdf
MacPherson, C. B. (1962). The political theory of possessive individualism – Hobbes to Locke. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Marsh, G. P. (1867). Preface of man and nature. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. Available at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37957/37957-h/37957-h.htm
Minteer B. A., Manning R. E. (2005). An appraisal of the critique of anthropocentrism and three lesser known themes in Lynn White’s “The historical roots of our ecological crisis”. Organization & Environment 18(2005), 163–176 Also available at: https://www.uvm.edu/parkstudieslaboratory/publications/Appraisal_Critique_Anthropocentrism.pdf
Morgera, E., & Tsioumani, E. (2011). Yesterday, today and tomorrow: Looking afresh at the convention on biological diversity (University of Edinburgh School of Law Working Paper No. 2011/21). Available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1914378
Nash, R. F. (2001). Wilderness & the American mind (4th ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Passmore, J. (1974/1980). Man’s responsibility for nature. London: Duckworth.
Pearce, D. W., Markandya, A., & Barbier, E. (Eds.). (1989). Blueprint for a green economy (Vol. 1). London: Earthscan.
Roberts, N. (1996). The human transformation of the earth’s surface. International Social Science Journal, 150, 493–510.
Sands, P. (1995). Principles of international environmental law. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Schrijver, N. (2008). The evolution of sustainable development in international law: Inception, meaning and status, pocketbook of the Hague Academy of International Law. Leiden/Bosten: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Schrijver, N., & Prislan, V. (2009). From Mare Liberum to the global commons: Building on the Grotian heritage. Grotiana, 30, 168–206.
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. (2010). Global biodiversity outlook 3. Montréal. Available at: http://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/gbo/gbo3-final-en.pdf
Smith, A. (1759). Glasgow edition of the works and correspondence, Vol. 1 The theory of moral sentiments. In D. D. Raphael, & A. L. Macfie (Eds.), (1982). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund. Available at: http://files.libertyfund.org/files/192/Smith_0141-01_EBk_v6.0.pdf
Smith, A. (1776). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations (S. M. Soares, Ed.). (2007). MetaLibri Digital Library.
Snyder, D. C. (2007). Locke on natural law and property rights. In T. Brooks (Ed.), Locke and law, philosophers and law series (pp. 3–30). Hampshire: Ashgate.
Summerson, R. (2012). Protection of wilderness and aesthetic values in Antarctica. In F. Huettmann (Ed.), Protection of the three poles (pp. 77–109). Dordrecht: Springer.
Thomas, K. (1983). Man and the natural world, changing attitudes in England (1500–1800). Harmondsworth/Middlesex: Allen Lane/Penguin Books Ltd.
Tickell, C. (1993). The human species: A suicidal success? The Geographical Journal, 159(2), 219–226. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3451413
Tin, T., & Summerson, R. (2009). Wilderniss and aesthetic values in Antartica. Map presented by ASOC at the ATCM XXXII.
Trouwborst, A. (2008). Seabird Bycatch – Deathbed conservation or a precautionary and holistic approach? Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 11(4), 293–333.
Van Heerikhuizen, B., (2012). An academic lecture on Adam Smith and Bernard de Mandeville, Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wMy1JvSsY
Van Heijnsbergen, P. (1997). International legal protection of flora and fauna. Amsterdam: Ios Press.
Veblen, T. (1899). The theory of the leisure class. An economic study of institutions. New York: Macmillan Company. (1909 ed. freely available at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/833/833-h/833-h.htm)
Verbeek, T. H. M. (2007). Mechanistische filosofie: Descartes en Spinoza. [Online] Available at: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/sg/2007-1115-200507/3-mechanis.pdf
Vöneky, S. (2008). The liability annex to the protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic treaty. In D. König, P. T. Stoll,, V. Röben, & N. Matz-Lück (Eds.), International law today: New challenges and the need for reform? Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht. Berlin/Heidelberg/New York: Springer. Available at: http://www.mpil.de/shared/data/pdf/text_liabilityannex_voeneky.pdf
Wells, S. (2010). Pandora’s seed: The unforeseen cost of civilization. New York: Random House Publishers. Translated into Dutch as De akkers van Pandora. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Contact 2010.
White Jr., L. (1967). The historical roots of our ecological crisis. Science, 155(3767). 1203–1207. Available at http://www.drexel.edu/~/media/Files/greatworks/pdf_fall09/HistoricalRoots_of_EcologicalCrisis.ashx
Wild Europe Initiative. (2013). A working definition of European wilderness and wild areas. Available at: http://www.wildeurope.org/images/pdf/a-working-definition-of-european-wilderness-and-wild-areas.pdf
World Resources Institute. (2005). Millennium ecosystem assessment. Washington, DC: Synthesis. Available at: www.maweb.org/documents/document.297.aspx.pdf
Zweers, W. (1995). Participeren aan de natuur; ontwerp voor een ecologisering van het wereldbeeld. Amsterdam: Jan van Arkel.
Law References
Bird Directive. (1979). Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds, OJ L 103/1.
Convention for the Protection of Wild Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa. (1900). Available at: http://iea.uoregon.edu/pages/view_treaty.php?t=1900-PreservationWildAnimalsBirdsFishAfrica.EN.txt&par=view_treaty_html
Convention on Biological Diversity. (CBD), Rio de Janeiro, 1992. Available at: http://www.cbd.int/convention/text/
Convention on the conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats Bern. (1979). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Html/104.htm
Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals. (1979). Bonn. Available at: http://www.cms.int/documents/convtxt/cms_convtxt_english.pdf
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. (1971). Ramsar. Available through: www.ramsar.org
Convention to Protect Birds Useful to Agriculture. (1902). Parry’s consolidated treaty series, 191(91). Available at: http://eelink.net/~asilwildlife/bird_1902.html
European Commission. (2013). Guidelines on wilderness in Natura 2000. Management of terrestrial wilderness and wild areas within the Natura 2000 network (Technical report 2013 – 069). Brussels: European Union. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/wilderness/pdf/WildernessGuidelines.pdf
European Court of Justice of the EU, Case C-127/02 Landelijke Vereniging tot Behoud van de Waddenzee and Nederlandse Vereniging tot Bescherming van Vogels v Netherlands [2004].
European Court of Justice of the EU, Case C-308-08 European Commission v Kingdom of Spain [2010].
European Court of Justice of the EU, Case C-2/10 Azienda Agro-Zootecnica Franchini Sarl and Eolica di Altamura Srl v Italy [2011].
Habitat Directive. (1992). Directive 92/43 on the Conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora, OJ L 206/7.
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. (1991). ILM 30(1455). Also available at http://www.ats.aq/e/ep.htm
Stockholm Declaration, adopted at the UN-Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, available through http://www.unep.org/
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Tim van der Putten for his proofreading and editorial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bastmeijer, K. (2016). Addressing Weak Legal Protection of Wilderness: Deliberate Choices and Drawing Lines on the Map. In: Carver, S., Fritz, S. (eds) Mapping Wilderness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7399-7_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7399-7_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-7397-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-7399-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)