From Sleeping Treaties to the Giddy Insomnia of Global Governance: How International Wildlife Law Makes Headway

Abstract

This review essay was occasioned by the publication of a second edition of Lyster's International Wildlife Law. In the decades since Simon Lyster published the first edition of International Wildlife Law much has changed in the landscape of international wildlife law and, indeed, of international environmental law more generally. Lyster's view was that international wildlife treaties were, in effect, sleeping giants, waiting to be awakened to the defense of wildlife by creative application and interpretation. This has not happened, and the essay explores why this is the case.

Keywords: international law, wildlife law, environmental law, natural resources law, environmental treaties