ABSTRACT
Rising concern over environmental threats to whole eco-systems has been reflected in the change in emphasis of more recent international instruments which concentrate less on the protection of individual species and more on the preservation of habitats.5 This trend is noticeable with respect to the three multilateral conventions examined in this section, namely the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES, see p 570, below), the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity (see p 586, below) and its Protocol on Biosafety (see p 604, below), as well as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance 1971 (see p 625, below). Eco-system protection has become an overt objective, with many new instruments concerned with the designation and control of suitable areas for such protection. Where such eco-systems are trans-boundary in nature, in the sense of overlapping two or more different territorial jurisdictions, measures of this type require international agreement, usually in the form of binding treaty commitments.6 Apart from such conventional obligations, there is also an evolving general principle requiring the conservation of natural resources found beyond national jurisdictions, in so-called global commons areas, such as the high seas and the atmosphere, and possibly even within national territories, thereby limiting State sovereignty.
