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8 - Law and conservation conflicts

from PART II - Contrasting disciplinary approaches to the study of conflict in conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Arie Trouwborst
Edited by
Stephen M. Redpath ,
R. J. Gutiérrez ,
Kevin A. Wood  and
Juliette C. Young
Arie Trouwborst
Affiliation:
Tilburg Law School
Stephen M. Redpath
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
R. J. Gutiérrez
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Kevin A. Wood
Affiliation:
Bournemouth University
Juliette C. Young
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK
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Summary

Conflict is a dominant notion within the legal discipline. In this chapter, I review some roles that law and legal research play with respect to conservation conflicts. I first introduce briefly law and legal research and then discuss the respective roles of law and legal research with regard to conservation conflicts. Although I focus my discussion on Europe, many if not most of the general principles are applicable elsewhere.

Law

Although most people have a general idea of what law is about, a universally accepted definition is lacking. In essence, law is a set of agreements, of various origins and serving various purposes. Those purposes include promoting and safeguarding different societal interests, for example the equality and individual freedoms of citizens, and the protection of health, safety and the natural environment – including biodiversity. One representative definition describes law as the sum of all rules and prescriptions for the promotion and protection of societal interests that have been publicly (governmentally) established and/or recognised and are, where necessary, enforced through penalties (Uylenburg and Vogelezang-Stoute, 2008).

Law serves several functions. Principally, it provides norms and safeguards. Law indicates what conduct is and is not permitted in society, and offers citizens the possibility to seek compliance by others with the rules involved. Furthermore, law provides a means for avoiding, mitigating and settling conflicts in society. Last but not least, governments use law as an instrument to achieve all manner of policy objectives – including nature conservation objectives.

A major source of law is legislation (i.e. the issuing of written, binding rules) by governments and other public entities at international, national, subnational and lower governmental levels. Other sources include judicial rulings (court decisions) and customary law (unwritten rules created through practice). Within domestic legal systems, a distinction can be drawn between private law (primarily concerned with relations between citizens or other private parties like companies) and public law (primarily concerned with the promotion of public interests).

Type
Chapter
Information
Conflicts in Conservation
Navigating Towards Solutions
 , pp. 108 - 121
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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