The Global Politics of Conservation: Species, Resources and Habitat

Abstract

Conservation issues have been fundamental to the globalizing environmental agenda. Traditional concerns with the preservation of nature and wildlife in pristine wilderness areas have shifted to encompass concerns about the conservation of species and biodiversity, the protection of living, renewable and supposedly inexhaustible resources and the protection of habitat and ecosystems, including biologically productive land. Collective action is now necessary for the management and protection of endangered wildlife, species, genetic diversity, habitat and resources. Political tensions arise over more than appropriate management strategies. They have become bound up in disagreements over sustainable use, commodification and intellectual property rights, utility rather than amenity value, the imperative of sovereign ownership of natural resources, conflicting values and cultural traditions, and disputes about what constitutes a local or global problem.