Bringing "top-down" to "bottom-up": A new role for environmental legislation in combating desertification

Harvard Environmental Law Review

Volumn 31, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 163-217

  Tal, Alon ^a   Cohen, Jessica A ^b  

^a BEN GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV   (Israel)

^b SEATTLE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BOTTOM-UP APPROACH; DESERTIFICATION; ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION; ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION; LAND MANAGEMENT; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; SOIL DEGRADATION; STRATEGIC APPROACH; TOP-DOWN APPROACH; UNITED NATIONS;

EID: 33947539964     PISSN: 01478257     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (417)

1. British scholar Michael Mortimore attributes the term "desertification" itself to the French forester Andre Aubréville's use of the term in his book, Climats, Forêts, et Desertification de l'Afrique Tropicale (1949).
2. Mortimore quotes Aubréville: The closed forests are shrinking and disappearing, like evaporating spots. The trees of the open forests and savannas become more and more spaced out. On all sides tyhe bare skin of Africa appears as its thin green veil of savanna burns, releasing a grey fog of dust into the atmosphere. Arable and is carried away by the yellow waters of rivers in flood. Slabs of sterile truncated soil, bearing tufts of grass around uprooted bushes, recall a kind of leprosy that is spreading over the face of Africa... Michael Mortimore, Roots in the African Dust, Sustaining the Sub-Saharan Drylands 21 (1998)
3. (quoting Aubréville, supra, at 341.
4. For a thorough description of the evolution of the concept of desertification, see Mortimore, supra note 1, at 17-25.
5. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 411 (1999).
6. Philip Dobie, United Nations Dev. Programme, Poverty and the Drylands (Sept. 2001) (citation omitted), available at http://www.undp.org/ drylands/docs/cpapers/PovertyandtheDrylands.doc: The most important contributing factor towards degradation of fragile lands in Sub-Saharan Africa is a nexus of poverty, rapid population growth and inadequate progress in increasing crop yields. Poor people in their quest for food and other livelihood needs are increasingly expanding cultivation into forests, steep hillsides and other fragile areas...reducing fallow periods to the point where soils are inadequately rejuvenated, pursuing land management practices that deplete soil nutrients...overgrazing pasture...[and] cutting trees for fuelwood.... When studying the location of poor people in different parts of the world, there is a clear correlation between those living in degraded areas and high levels of impoverishment.
7. See also Kevin M. Cleaver & Gotz, A. Schreiber, World Bank, Reversing the Spiral: The Population, Agriculture and Environment Nexus in Sub-Sharan Africa (1994);
8. Mark Winslow et al., Desertification, Drought, Poverty and Agriculture: Research Lessons and Opportunities (2004), available at http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Assessment/files/Synthesis/Land%20Degradation/ DDPAARLO_text.pdf.
9. "Desertification contributes to famine. Famine typically occurs in areas that also suffer from poverty, civil unrest, or war. Drought and land degradation often help to trigger a crisis, which is then made worse by poor food distribution and the inability to buy what is available." United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification ("UNCCD") Secretariat, Fact Sheet 3: The Consequences of Desertitication, http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/factsheets/ showFS.php?number=3 (last visited Nov. 1, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
10. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment's Desertification Synthesis explains that the "manifestations of desertification are apparent in all categories of ecosystem services." Zafar Adeel et al., World Resources Inst., Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Desertification Synthesis 6 (2005) [hereinafter Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Desertification Synthesis], available at http://www.millenniumassessment.org/proxy/Document.355.aspx.
11. Norman Myers, Environmental Refugees, 19 Population & Env't 167, 167-82 (1997);
12. see also William B. Wood, Ecoimmigration: Linkages Between Environmental Change and Migration, in Global Migrants, Global Refugees 42-61 (Aristide R. Zolberg & Peter M. Benda eds., 2001).
13. Hans Günter Brauch, Desertification - A New Security Challenge for the Mediterranean?, NATO - CCMS & Science Committee Workshop, Valencia, Spain (Dec. 2-5, 2003), available at http://www.nato.int/ science/news/2003/docu/031211c-desertification.pdf.
14. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed 368 (2005) [hereinafter Diamond, Collapse].
15. Id. at 365.
16. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, June 17, 1994, art. 9, 33 I.L.M. 1328 [hereinafter UNCCD].
17. See id. prologue, arts. 4, 5.
18. See id. art. 6.
19. By October 1996, the 115 nations required to activate the UNCCD had signed the convention, and it came into force ninety days later on December 26, 1996. UNCCD Secretariat, Status of Ratification and Entry into Force, http://www.unccd.int/convention/ratif/doeif.php (last visited Oct. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) [hereinafter UNCCD Secretariat, Status of Ratification].
20. Id.
21. The U.N. has 192 member nations; thus, the UNCCD includes almost the entire international community. See United Nations, Growth in United Nations Membership, 1945-2006, http://www.un.org/Overview/growth.htm (last visited Nov. 21, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
22. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 9. The Convention provides: National action programmes shall specify the respective roles of government, local communities and land users and the resources available and needed. They shall, inter alia: (a) incorporate long-term strategies to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought ...; (b) ... be sufficiently flexible at the local level to cope with different socio-economic, biological and geo-physical conditions; (c) give particular attention to the implementation of preventive measures for lands that are not yet degraded ...; (d) enhance ... the means to provide for drought early warning; (e) promote policies ... [and] develop cooperation ... between the donor community, governments at all levels, local populations and community groups ...; (f) provide for effective participation at the local, national and regional levels of non-governmental organizations and local populations, both women and men ....
23. See infra Part III.B.
24. See infra Part III.A.
25. See UNCCD Secretariat, Action Programmes, http://www.unccd.int (last visited Oct. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (providing roster of all nations that have submitted NAPs).
26. Id.
27. Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary of the UNCCD, acknowledged in May 2005 during a review of the Convention's implementation that the "mainstreaming trend [of linking NAPs to existing poverty reduction and investment strategies] is still more formal than operational. The UNCCD policy tool should be better integrated to [sic] existing environmental policies." Press Release, UNCCD, UN Maps New Ways To Mainstream Desertification (May 12, 2005), available at http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/pressrel/showpressrel.php?pr= press12_05_05.
28. While economic progress has been encouraging in many developing regions in East Asia since 1981, the numbers of extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa have nearly doubled. Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time 21 (2005).
29. Id. at 276-77.
30. For example, over a billion dollars is scheduled to be distributed through the Strategic Partnership for UNCCD Implementation in Central Asian Countries to address sustainable land management in Central Asia. See The Global Mechanism, UNCCD, Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management ("CACILM"), http://www.global-mechanism.org/ initiatives/cacilm (last visited Oct. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
31. See UNCCD Secretariat, Status of the Contributions to the Convention's Trust Funds, http://www.unccd.int/secretariat/menu.php?newch=16 (last visited Oct. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (detailing national contributions to the UNCCD Trust, a fund overseen by the Convention Secretariat to implement the UNCCD that has been very poorly financed);
32. The Global Mechanism, UNCCD, All Initiatives, http://www.globalmechanism.org/initiatives/all-initiatives (last visited Oct. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (providing the reports of the Global Mechanism, the financial initiative designed to facilitate partnerships under the UNCCD).
33. Daniel J. Hillel, Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil 85-102 (1991).
34. Alon Tal, A Slow Crawl Forward in the Dust: Desertification, the Environmental Orphan, in The Turning Points of Environmental History (Christof Mauch et al. eds.) (forthcoming 2007) [hereinafter Tal, A Slow Crawl Forward];
35. see also UNCCD, Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention, Consideration of Ways and Means of Promoting Know-How and Technology Transfer for Combating Desertification and/or Mitigating the Effects of Drought as Well of Promoting Experience Sharing and Information Exchange Among Parties and Interested Institutions and Organizations, U.N. Doc. ICCD/CRIC(3)/7 (Feb. 16, 2005), available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/officialdocs/cric3/pdf/7eng.pdf.
36. Garret Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, 162 Science 1243, 1244-45 (1968) (arguing that individuals who share a common resource lack incentives to curtail individual usage, a dynamic which inevitably leads to overexploitation and ecological damage).
37. Hardin suggested government regulation to restrict use of a common resource as one possible solution to the "tragedy of the commons." Id. at 1245.
38. In a real-life example, federal command-and-control regulation by the U.S. government reduced pollution of the ambient air - also a common resource - to produce an EPA-calculated societal savings of $83 billion. See Janea Scott et al., Envtl. Def., The Clean Air Act at 35, at 9-11 (2005).
39. The Brundtland Commission's original definition of "sustainable development" was "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." Comm'n for the Future, The World Comm'n on Env't and Dev., Our Common Future 87 (Australian ed.) (1990). As the needs of millions of individuals living in drylands areas worldwide are presently not being met, further development will clearly be needed.
40. A proposed model for successful environmental regulation in developing countries is presented in William Andreen, Environmental Law and International Assistance: The Challenge of Strengthening Environmental Law in the Developing World, 25 Colum. J. Envtl. L. 17 (2000).
41. Andreen proposes a legal regime that would gradually phase in the following: study of existing laws; establishment of a vision for reform; development of appropriate institutions for environmental management; recognition that such reform may extend beyond environmental law into other areas; creation of national ownership through public participation; and appropriate and long-term capacity building, including strengthening of non-governmental Organizations. Id. at 26.
42. For example, with wood collection for fuel exacerbating desertification in many developing regions, provision of alternative fuels offers a feasible and immediate alternative that will both save time (in searching for increasingly scarce woods) and vulnerable lands. See Women's Commision for Refugee Women and Children, Beyond Firewood: Fuel Alternatives and Protection Strategies for Women and Girls 17-19 (Mar 2006), available at http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/fuel.pdf.
43. A review of the theory behind technology-forcing environmental policies and examples of success stories can be found in Rene Kemp, Environmental Policy and Technical Change: A Comparison of the Technological Impact of Policy Instruments (1997).
44. For a description of a successful instance of technology forcing, see David Gerard & Lester B. Lave, Implementing Technology-Forcing Policies: The 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments and the Introduction of Advanced Automotive Emissions Controls (May 2003), available at http://www.epp.cmu.edu/httpdocs/people/bios/papers/gerard/ Gerard_Lave%20TF1.pdf.
45. The Global Environment Facility ("GEF"), the major U.N.-affiliated environmental financing apparatus, agreed to include land degradation projects among the initiatives eligible for its support in 2002. GEF, Land Degradation, http://www.gefweb.org/projects/ Focal_Areas/land/land.html (last visited Nov. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
46. While the GEF inclusion of land degradation is an important milestone in UNCCD funding, it is hardly a panacea. For instance, while GEF concluded 2002 with $3 billion in resources, these funds are to be used for all six of its focal areas: climate change, biodiversity, international waters, persistent organic pollutants, land degradation, and ozone-depleting substances in developing countries. GEF, Replenishment, http://www.gefweb.org/Replenishment/replenishment.html (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review);
47. GEF, Global Environmental Facility, http://www.gefweb.org (last visited Nov. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
48. Finally, according to basic GEF policies, funding is only considered if the project has global significance. Robert C. Gustafson, Land Degradation and the GEF, http://www.gefweb.org/projects/Focal_Areas/land/ documents/GuidelinesOP15Eng.pdf (last visited Nov. 30, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
49. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 5(e).
50. "You may plant your land for six years and gather its crops. But during the seventh year, you must leave it alone and withdraw from it." Exodus 23: 10-11.
51. For example, the final report of the most recent UNCCD Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention session contains a section entitled "Legislative and Institutional Frameworks or Arrangements" that fails to specifically mention a single statute or substantive provision. UNCCD, The Committee to Review Implementation of the Convention, Report of the Committee on its Third Session, 123-26, U.N. Doc. ICCD/CRIC(3)/9 (June 23, 2005).
52. See, e.g., Kyle W. Danish, International Environmental Law and the Bottom-Up Approach: A Review of the Desertification Convention, 3 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 133 (1995);
53. Alastair Iles, The Desertification Convention: A Deeper Focus on Social Aspects of Environmental Degradation?, 36 Harv. Int'l L.J. 207 (1995);
54. The "Rio" Environmental Treaties Colloquium, 13 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 111 (1995) (statement on the UNCCD by a U.N. official).
55. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Desertification Synthesis, supra note 6, at 7
56. World Resources Institute, Drylands: Aridity Zones of the World, http://earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/ maps_detail_static.php?map_select=459&theme=9 (last visited Nov. 29, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review). Drylands include arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid area, and are primarily found in Asia and Africa. Drylands do not include true deserts, which are defined as hyper-arid areas.
57. Id.
58. UNCCD Secretariat, The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification [hereinafter UNCCD Secretariat, Explanatory Leaflet], available at http://www.unccd.int/convention/text/pdf/leaflet_eng.pdf (last visited Oct. 31, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (explanatory leaflet about the UNCCD).
59. Compare Ridley Nelson, Dryland Management: The "Desertification Problem" 1 (World Bank Technical Paper No. 116, 1990)
60. with David S. G. Thomas & Nicholas J. Middleton, Desertification: Exploding the Myth 8-10 (1994).
61. See, for example, Michael Mortimore's definition: soil fertility decline, erosion by wind or water, dune formation, hydrological decline, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and declining bioproductivity. Michael Mortimore, Dryland Development: Success Stories from West Africa, Environment, Jan./Feb. 2005, at 8, 10.
62. Nelson, supra note 44, at 1.
63. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 1 (a).
64. UNCCD Secretariat, Explanatory Leaflet, supra note 43.
65. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 1 (f).
66. Mortimore, supra note 45, at 10.
67. "It is dangerous, however, to assume that such sequences [of land degradation] are inevitable or cannot be reversed." Nelson, supra note 44, at 3.
68. See, e.g., Klaus Kellner et al., The Use of Demonstration Sites for Restoring Degraded Arid and Semi-Arid Rangelands in South Africa, Presentation at Conference on Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities (Nov. 7, 2006).
69. Nelson, supra note 44, at 16.
70. See, e.g., Adrian Carillo et al., Arid Rangelands Desertification: Overgrazing, Conservation and Social Perceptions in Mexico, Presentation at Conference on Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities (Nov. 7, 2006) (noting that lack of internal grazing rules in Mexican communal property systems to promote shareholders or efficient animal production levels has led to the deterioration of natural resources).
71. See supra note 30.
72. UNCCD Secretariat, Explanatory Leaflet, supra note 43.
73. U.N. Comm'n on Sustainable Dev., Letter Dated 18 March 2002 from the Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations Addressed to the Chairman of the Commission Acting as the Preparatory Committee, annex at 3, U.N. Doc. A/Conf.199/PC/16 (Apr. 15, 2002) [hereinafter U.N. Comm'n on Sustainable Dev., Letter from Permanent Representative of Niger].
74. This assessment of the ecological state of the planet was the product of consultation by some 1,300 experts from 95 countries and was funded by the United Nations along with a variety of international agencies, including the World Bank. See generally Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, http://www.maweb.org (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
75. Millennium Ecosytem Assessment, Desertification Synthesis, supra note 6, at 1.
76. Press Release, UNCCD, UN Desertification Talks Start in Bonn To Promote Stronger National Action (May 2, 2005), available at http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/pressrel/showpressrel.php?pr= press02_05_05 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
77. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Desertification Synthesis, supra note 6, at 2.
78. Iles, supra note 39, at 208.
79. U.N. Comm'n on Sustainable Dev., Letter from Permanent Representative of Niger, supra note 57, annex at 3.
80. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Desertification Synthesis, supra note 6, at 7.
81. The United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa.
82. See William S. Ellis, Africa's Sahel: The Stricken Land, Nat'l Geographic, Aug. 1987, at 140, 153.
83. William C. Burns, The International Convention To Combat Desertification: Drawing a Line in the Sand?, 16 Mich. J. Int'l L. 831, 849 (1995).
84. Leslie C. Clark, Comment, A Call to Restructure Existing International Environmental Law in Light of Africa's Renaissance: The United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification and the New Partnership for Africa's Development, 27 Seattle U.L. Rev. 525, 531-32 (2003).
85. International Co-operation To Combat Desertification, G.A. Res. 3337 (XXIX), U.N. Doc. A/RES/3337(XXIX) (Dec. 17, 1974).
86. Ninety-five nations, fifty U.N. offices, and sixty non-governmental organizations were represented at the UNCOD. Tal, A Slow Crawl Forward, supra note 28.
87. Clark, supra note 68, at 531;
88. Report of the United Nations Conference on Desertification, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.74/36 (1977).
89. Clark, supra note 68, at 533-34.
90. Burns, supra note 67, at 853-54.
91. Patricia Birnie & Alan Boyle, International Law and the Environment 43-47 (2002).
92. Burns, supra note 67, at 854-55: The proposal [for a desertification convention) was initially resisted by several developed nations for several reasons. The United States contended that it might be more judicious to address the root causes of desertification, such as forestry, climate change, and water resources in separate treaties. Additionally, several industrialized nations, led by Great Britain, resisted the proposal on financial grounds. Ultimately, the impasse was broken and Western governments tepidly backed the proposal.
93. Marc Pallemaerts, International Environmental Law in the Age of Sustainable Development: A Critical Assessment of the UNCED Process, 15 J. L. & Com. 623, 671 (1996).
94. Burns, supra note 67, at 855.
95. The first of five intergovernmental Negotiating Committee sessions was held in Nairobi, Kenya in May 1993. By the fourth meeting in Geneva, the Committee had reached a proposed text for a convention and drafts of regional implementation programs. Danish, supra note 39, at 149.
96. Burns, supra note 67, at 856.
97. UNCCD Secretariat, Status of Ratification, supra note 14.
98. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 2(1).
99. For example, the Convention acknowledges both the impact international trade can have on the environment and that sustainable economic growth is a priority for affected developing countries. UNCCD, supra note 11, prologue.
100. UNCCD Secretariat, Explanatory Leaflet, supra note 43.
101. Iles, supra note 39, at 207.
102. UNCCD, supra note 11, prologue.
103. For instance, beginning in 1993, the U.N. General Assembly declared October 17 the "International Day to Eradicate Poverty." The years 1997-2006 were declared "the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty." See U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty 1997-2006, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/poverty/poverty.htm (last visited Oct. 31, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
104. Millennium Project, About the Goals, http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/ goals/index.htm (last visited Oct. 18, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
105. Id.
106. Dr. Zafar Adeel, a co-author of the Millennium Ecosystems Assessment, stated that "[t]he Millennium Development Goals, a suite of objectives globally agreed by the world leaders in 2000 to be met by 2015, cannot be met without addressing the problem of desertification effectively." Many of 2 Billion Dryland Dwellers at Risk as Land Degrades, http://www.terradaily.com/reports/ Many_Of_2_Billion_Dryland_Dwellers_At_Risk_As_L_and_Degrades.html (last visited Oct. 18, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
107. Telephone Interview with Pamela Chasek, Assoc. Professor of Gov't, Manhattan College (Oct. 12, 2006).
108. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 10(e), (f).
109. Geoffrey Lean, UNCCD Secretariat, Down to Earth: A Simplified Guide to the Convention To Combat Desertification, Why It Is Necessary and What Is Important and Different About It 19 (1995), available at http://www.unccd.int/publicinfo/downtoearth/downtoearth-eng.pdf.
110. An underlying assumption of the Convention is that women are underrepresented at the national level, and thus their empowerment should be a specific goal of bottom-up strategies. Id.
111. Minna Jokela, Desertification as a Global Problem 7, presented at the Open Meeting of the Global Environmental Change Research Community, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Oct. 6-8, 2001), available at http://sedac.ciesin.org/openmeeting/downloads/ 1005753109_presentation_rio.wpd.
112. Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Env't & Natural Res. Third National Report on the Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) § 5.2.1.8 (2004) [hereinafter Kenya's Third National Report], available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/africa/ national/2004/kenya-eng.pdf.
113. Id.
114. Lester brown, Pant B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble 47 (2003).
115. 1 India, Ministry of Env't. & Forests, National Action Programme To Combat Desertification 18, 24 (Sept. 2001) [ hereinafter India's National Action Program], available at http://www.unccd.int.
116. India, Ministry of Env't. & Forest, India: National Report on Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 15 (Apr. 2000) [hereinafter India's First National Report], available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/asia/national/ 2000/india-eng.pdf.
117. Id. at 15.
118. See, e.g., Mark Winslow, Stimulating Dryland Soil Fertility Improvement by Small-Scale Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa Through "Microdosing," Presentation at Conference on Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities (Nov. 6, 2006).
119. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 5(e).
120. Id. arts. 9, 10.
121. Id. art. 10(1).
122. Id. art. 9(1).
123. Id. art. 10(2)(a).
124. Id. art. 10(2)(e).
125. UNCCD, supra note 11, art. 10(2)(f).
126. See id. arts. 16(g), 17(c), 18;
127. Id. annex III, art. 10(1)(f) regarding respectively: Parties' provision of advice to other nations on review of national legislation; the exchange of local and traditional knowledge subject to Parties' national legislation; research and development of traditional and local knowledge and practices subject to Parties' national legislation; and promotion, financing, and facilitation of technology in accordance with Parties' national legislation.
128. See, e.g., Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution, Feb. 16, 1976, 15 I.L.M. 290;
129. International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, Dec. 2, 1946, art. V, 62 Stat. 1716, 1718, 161 U.N.T.S. 72;
130. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, Mar. 3, 1973, 27 U.S.T. 1087, 993 U.N.T.S. 243.
131. The IPU is the international organization of Parliaments of sovereign states. See Inter-Parliamentary Union, What Is the IPU?, http://www.ipu.org (last visited Oct. 31, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
132. Uwe Holtz, Important Outcomes of the Previous Five Roud Tables of Members of Parliament on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 20 (2005), available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/cop7/ docs/report5parl-eng.pdf.
133. These goals were outlined in the declaration adopted at the UNCCD's First Parliamentary Round Table at Dakar in 1998. First Round Table of Parliamentarians, Declaration by Members of Parliaments Regarding the Process of Implementation of the United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification (Dec. 7, 1998), available at http://www.unccd.int.
134. See Holtz, supra note 111, at 31-53 (reprinting declarations of the Round Tables). The 2000 Parliamentary Round Table focused on domestic funding and enhancing technical and financial assistance to countries most affected by desertification.
135. Id. at 16. The 2001 Round Table focused on addressing connections between poverty and sustainable development.
136. Id. at 39-43.
137. At the 2003 Havana conference, the three main subjects were parliamentarians' role in promoting effective implementation of desertification and poverty eradication policies; support for parliamentarians at the national level to ensure adoption of national legislation within the framework of the MDG goals; and the importance of parliamentarians seeking full support of the GEF to implement the UNCCD's goals. In addition, the declaration of the fifth Round Table proposes a Parliamentary Network on the UNCCD ("PNoUNCCD"), under the IPU, with the goal of "increasing parliamentary involvement and efficiency in the fields of combating desertification, soil erosion and land degradation, [of] pooling information and [of] ensuring greater parliamentary input into international negotiations and organizations..." Fifth Round Table of Members of Parliament, Declaration Adopted by Members of Parliament (Sept. 5, 2003), available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/cop6/roundtable/declaration-eng.pdf. Unfortunately, it is hard to identify meaningful follow-up to such discussions.
138. See Holtz, supra note 111.
139. Kenya, for example, is a country whose primary emphasis in combating desertification has been on generalized local policy frameworks and sectoral instruments rather than targeted legislation. See Kenya, Nat'l Envtl. Secretariat, National Action Program: A Framework for Combating Desertification in Kenya in the Context of UNCCD 2.2 (Apr. 2002) [hereinafter Kenya's National Action Program], available at http://www.unccd.int. Kenya, under its Environmental Management and Coordination Act ("EMCA") of 1999, established a National Environment Management Authority ("NEMA") that was given a mandate to coordinate and supervise all matters related to the environment-including desertification.
140. Kenya's Third national Report, supra note 94, § 2.4. While NEMA!s establishment was a good beginning, it does not wield sufficient force to ensure compliance. As Kenya's 2004 National Report acknowledges: "There is need for awareness creation among the local community for improved compliance to EMCA, 1999 ...." Id. While building policy, legal and institutional frameworks, nowhere does it mention more specific legislation.
141. The law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgate by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong. Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002) (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
142. See, e.g., Syrian Arab Republic, Ministry of State for Envtl. Affairs, National Action Plan to Combat Desertification in the Syrian Arab Republic (2002), available at http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/asia/ national/2002/syria-eng.pdf.
143. The NAP projects that 3.177 million hectares of lands affected by wind erosion and 4.3 million hectares affected by water erosion will be rehabilitated; 12.15 million hectares of degraded land will be revegetated; 2 million hectares of salinized land will be treated; and 6.905b million hectares of artificial plantation will be established. China, National Action Program to Combat Desertification (Abstract), § 2.1.1 (1996) [hereinafter China, national Action Program], available at http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/asia/national/2000/ china-eng.pdf.
144. See, e.g., Décret No. 2001-0108/PR/MAEM of June 6, 2001, Portant approbation du Programme d'Action National pour la lutte contre la désertification ("PAN") (Djib.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (approving Djibouti's NAP);
145. Arrêté ministériel No. 6816 M.ENV-DC-PAGF2 of June 23, 2000, Portant création et fonctionnement du Projet agroforestier de Lutte contre la Désertification (Sen.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (creating an agroforestry project to fight desertification in Senegal);
146. Décret no. 2000-130/PRN/ME/ILCD of Apr. 21, 2000, Déterminant les attributions du Ministre de l'environnement et de la lutte contre la desertification, Journal officiel de la République du Niger no. 15, Aug. 1, 2000, 482 (Niger) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (giving authority to Niger's Minister of Environment in the fight against desertification).
147. Resolución No. 648 of Nov. 12, 2004, Gaceta Oficial, Nov. 30, 2004, 44 (Pan.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (adopting a regulation declaring Panama's intent to prevent or mitigate the effects of desertification pursuant to the UNCCD);
148. Resolución No. 302/04 of Apr. 14, 2004 (Arg.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (adopting a law similar to that of Panama).
149. Lei No. 10.638.of Jan. 6, 2003, D.O., July 1, 2003 (Braz.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
150. Decreto No. 113 of Mar. 28, 2001, D.O., Aug. 5, 2001 (Chile) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review);
151. Decreto No. 600 of Feb. 16, 2001, D.O. de 16.02.2001 (Chile) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
152. A list of the individual national "focal point" institutions responsible for reporting on UNCCD implementation and coordinating with the Secretariat can be found on the UNCCD website. In addition, the Convention's Regional Annexes call for the establishment of sub-regional focal points in Africa and Latin America. UNCCD, supra note 11, annex I, art 10(1)(a);
153. id. annex III, art. 7(1)(a).
154. The Law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002), arts. 14, 15 (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
155. For example, in 2005 Tunisia adopted a regulation creating a national council to fight against desertification. Décret No. 2005-1747 of June 13, 2005, Portant création d'U.N. conseil national de lutte contre la désertification et fixant ses attributions, sa composition et son fonctionnement, Journal Officiel de la République Tunisienne, June 17, 2005, 1360 (Tunis.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
156. Israel, for example, created the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research ("BIDR") in 1972. BIDR, http://bidr.bgu.ac.il/bidr (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
157. Costa Rica, for example, has enacted a law to create a commission to assess degraded lands. Decreto 27.258-MINAE, May 20, 1998, Crea la Comisión Asesora sobre Degradación de Tierras [Creating the Advisory Commission on the Degradation of Land], La Gaceta: Diário Oficial [D.O.], Sept. 11, 1998 (Costa Rica) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review);
158. Decreto 29.279-MINAE-MAG, Nov. 1, 2000, D.O., Feb. 12, 2001 (Costa Rica) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
159. For other examples, see Medida Provisória 151, Dec. 18, 2003 (Braz.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (creating institute to promote scientific and technological development of Brazil's semiarid areas);
160. China, National Action Program, supra note 118, §§ 3.5-.7 (creating several research centers).
161. Commonwealth Intergovernmental Working Group for the UNCCD, Australian Actions to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation 5 (2002) [hereinafter Australia's National Report], available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/asia/national/2002/australia-eng.pdf.
162. While the federal government is responsible for national environmental issues and implementation of international treaties, the state and territory governments are responsible for land management, water use, and environmental protection. Jim Allan, Soil Conservation Programs in Australia, Presentation at Conference on Deserts and Desertification: Challenges and Opportunities (Nov. 7, 2006).
163. It does not appear that any anti-desertification legislation has directly evolved out of these two plans; however, the programs direct the governmental sectors to "invest in priority actions under agreed natural resource management plans developed for Australia's catchments and regions." Id. at 6 (sidebar).
164. In practice, the programs constitute joint efforts between central governments and local communities. For example, the programs help the communities to establish long-term goals for the next ten to twenty years and within those, short-term targets that are achievable and focus on management and capacity-building. The communities are not expected to reach these goals on their own, so the State and Territory governments are mandated to invest in and to help implement the plans. The government's investment should support the community's "development of skills, knowledge and [necessary] information," and the long-term goals of reversing land degradation. Id. This bottom-up partnership fits into the general model presented by the UNCCD.
165. Id.
166. Whether or not there is anything inherently inefficient about this dispersed legal approach is a subject of debate. For some time, many scholars have argued for integrated environmental regulation based on a comprehensive statute as more coherent for government and ultimately easier for the regulated community. Advocates of a more holistic approach to desertification legislation surely have a sound theoretical basis for their position.
167. For example, many of Tanzania's fifty environmental laws date from the colonial period. Andreen, supra note 32, at 5.
168. Sand Drift Ordinance, 2 Laws of Palestine 686 (Moses Doukhan ed., 1922).
169. Id.
170. See Mortimore, supra note 1, at 160-63 (describing the early soil conservation program in Kenya's Machakos district).
171. Monica Mwamgi & Zein Nsheiwat, Review of the Implementation of Kenya's National Action Program (Jan. 2006) (unpublished internal academic report, Ben Gurion University, Isr., on file with author).
172. Kenya, for instance, is home to the United Nations Environment Program and hosted the 1978 United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) as well as the recent Conference of the Parties (COP7) in October 2005. The country's Third National Report on Implementation of the UNCCD lists several pieces of legislation and other initiatives that have been enacted or implemented since Kenya ratified the UNCCD. See Kenya's Third National Report, supra note 94, at 24.
173. However, of these, only Kenya's 2002 Water Act has language that relates directly to the UNCCD. Id. at 20. Recently, Kenya seems to be seeking a broader legislative orientation after years of working with subject-specific laws and regulations. In 1999, two years after Kenya ratified the UNCCD, the Environmental Management and Co-Ordination Act was passed, with the goal of harmonizing a variety of sectoral environmental laws, including those which can be employed to combat desertification. at Recently, Kenya seems to be seeking a broader legislative orientation after years of working with subject-specific laws and regulations. In 1999, two years after Kenya ratified the UNCCD, the Environmental Management and Co-Ordination Act was passed, with the goal of harmonizing a variety of sectoral environmental laws, including those which can be employed to combat desertification
174. See Law No. 8 of 1999, Jan. 14, 2000, The Environmental Management and Co-Ordination Act (Kenya) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
175. The Republic of Uzbekistan ratified the UNCCD in August 1995, only five years after declaring its independence from the former Soviet Union. It was the first of the Asian states to ratify the UNCCD. Main Admin. On Hydrometeorology (Glavgidromet) at The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, National Report of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the Implementation to Combat Desertification (CCD) [sic] 4 (2002), available at http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/asia/national/2002/ uzbekistaneng.pdf [hereinafter Uzbekistan National Report].
176. In its National Report of 2002, Uzbekistan claims that "[i]mprovement of the legislative framework of environmental protection and desertification control is among [its] top priority tasks." Id. at 26.
177. While it has integrated environmental protection provisions into its constitution and passed several statutes in areas such as water regulation and land management and protection, thus far no statutes directly linked to the UNCCD have been initiated. Id. at 31.
178. Australia became a party to the UNCCD in September 2000 as a developed, affected party to the Convention. The major problems facing Australia's agricultural land are soil erosion, loss of vegetation covering, and excess water irrigation. The principle causes of desertification in Australia include "over-grazing by introduced and native herbivores (total grazing pressure), mechanical removal of vegetation cover, woody weed invasion and land management without regard to climate variability. The effects of these processes include increased soil erosion, soil degradation, altered stream flow regimes, increased soil salinity and loss of biodiversity." Australia's National Report, supra note 128, at 4.
179. See Act No. 41 of 1995, Coastal Protection and Management Act 1995, reprinted Mar. 30, 2006 (Queensl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
180. Id. § 47.
181. Id. § 52(2)(b).
182. Id. § 52(4).
183. Act No. 8379/1972, Land Conservation (Vehicle Control) Act 1972, Dec. 19, 1972, reprinted Dec. 31, 2003 (Vict.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
184. The State of Western Australia has a Soil and Land Conservation Act, written in 1945, which includes measures to mitigate the effects of erosion. This is accomplished by the Commissioner serving a soil conservation notice on individuals who are involved in degrading agricultural practices or who need to take action to prevent soil erosion. Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945, Jan. 9, 1946, reprinted June 12, 1999 (W. Austl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
185. The Northern Territory of Australia's Soil Conservation and Land Utilization Act, enacted in 1970, provides another example of a soil and land conservation statute. This statute appoints a Commissioner of Soil Conservation and conservation officers, who are to advise the Minister on soil conservation issues and to report recommendations to the Minister; the Minister may alert the public and declare certain areas to be of erosion hazard. Act No. 9, Apr. 8, 1970, Soil Conservation and Land Utilization Act, reprinted July 15, 2001 (N. Terr.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
186. Sixty percent of China's population lives in areas affected by desertification. The effects of desertification have been extreme: wind and sand storms threaten about 13 million hectares of arable land, having already degraded about 100 million hectares of land and water resources. Rails and highways have also been destroyed. China, National Action Program, supra note 118, § 1.
187. See supra notes 116-118 and accompanying text.
188. China, National Action Program, supra note 118, § § 2.3, 2.3.1.
189. The Law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002), art. 2 (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
190. Id. art. 3(1).
191. Id. art. 6.
192. Id. art. 26.
193. Id. art. 30.
194. All levels of government are required to implement plans to combat desertification based on the recommendations and schedules of the NAP, and their plans and progress are to be reported to the appropriate government bodies at the higher level; any changes to the original plan must be approved by the original ratifying body. Id. arts. 16-18.
195. The state and local governments are also directed to include desertification prevention activities in their social and economic development plans. States are to establish targets for desertification prevention and control. See China, National Action Program, supra note 118, § 4.
196. The Law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002), art. 40 (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
197. Id. art. 39.
198. Additionally, vegetation destruction in protected areas is an illegal activity, and the government must order the individual committing the act to stop and forfeit any illegal gains garnered as a result. Id. art. 38.
199. If a government agency violates this law by failing to report land deterioration or erect sand- and windbreaks, by approving cultivated land in vegetative areas, or by developing and constructing on unapproved areas, the overseeing administrative body will be sanctioned. Id. art. 43.
200. Id. art. 34.
201. Id. art. 35.
202. While legislation and effective implementation in these areas will go a long way toward solving land degradation in drylands regions, it is worth mentioning that this Article does not address the "indirect" causes of desertification. This is an important caveat, since dynamics such as gender roles, overpopulation, land tenure, and so on may be much thornier for legislative intervention, both politically and technically. Limiting regulatory responses to direct causes may ultimately leave the root cause of many countries' desertification problem unaddressed, only touching on the symptoms created by the indirect drivers.
203. Many nations with ample precipitation have ambitious erosion statutes that operate effectively with no connection to desertification per se. See, e.g., Décret no. 2005-117 of Feb. 7, 2005, Journal Officiel de la République Française, Feb. 12, 2005, 2421 (France) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (anti-erosion decree).
204. There is also nothing new about erosion legislation. The U.S. Congress, for instance, passed the Soil Erosion Act in 1935. Pub. L. No. 74-46, 49 Stat. 163 (1935) (codified at 16 U.S.C. § 590(a)-(q) (2006)).
205. For a history of U.S. soil erosion legislation, see generally John B. Braden & David L. Uchtmann, Soil Conservation Programs Amidst Faltering Environmental Commitments and the "New Federalism," 10 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 639 (1982). Brazil has similarly had soil erosion laws since the mid-1970s. Lei No. 6.225, July 14, 1975, Diario Oficial, July 15, 1975 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review) (creating environmental plans for soil erosion prevention).
206. The relative effectiveness of command-and-control laws in changing agricultural behavior was established empirically within the context of non-point source water pollution statutes over a decade ago. See generally Al Rosenthal (Alon Tal), State Agricultural Pollution Regulation: A Quantitative Assessment, 2 Water Env't & Tech. 1 (1990) [hereinafter Tal, State Agricultural Pollution].
207. Indeed, water quality concerns, because of the clear externalities involved, have catalyzed the imposition of command-and-control standards on agricultural activities, thus reducing erosion and its on-site damages. Id.
208. J.W. Looney, GATT and Future Soil Conservation Programs in the United States: Some Lessons from Australia, 28 Tulsa L.J. 673, 687 (1993).
209. See James Arts & William Church, Soil Erosion, The Next Crisis?, 1982 Wis. L. Rev. 535, 604-06 (discussing the historic evolution of this attitude toward regulatory soil conservation programs in the United States).
210. 16 U.S.C. §§ 3801-62 (2006).
211. See generally Dean Massey, Land Use Regulatory Power of Conservation Districts in the Midwestern States for Controlling Nonpoint Source Pollutants, 33 Drake L. Rev. 35 (1984).
212. Land grant universities across the United States operate extension services to provide technical aid to the farming community and a link between advances in academic agricultural research and the field. See, e.g., University of Minnesota Extension Service, http://www.extension.umn.edu/index.html (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
213. In 1994, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA") established the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service ("CSREES") to coordinate and support the research of the sundry state extension services. USDA, CSREES, Background, http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/background.html (last visited Nov. 23, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
214. For a critique of the USDA's implementation of the Act, see Alon Rosenthal (Tal), Going with the Flow: USDA's Dubious Commitment to Water Quality, 5 Envtl. F. 15 (1988).
215. See Roger Claassen et al., USDA, Environmental Compliance in U.S. Agricultural Policy: Past Performance and Future Potential (May 2004), available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/aer832/aer832d.pdf.
216. Id. at 14.
217. Id. at 3-4.
218. 7 U.S.C. § 1631 (2006).
219. This is a site-specific performance standard which can be defined as the level of erosion at which a given soil can maintain its productive capacity. It is measured annually in tons per acre of soil erosion. 7 C.F.R. § 12.21(a) (1996).
220. Agricultural policy expert David Ervin, for example, reaches the conclusion that the political obstacles for implementing regulatory programs in the area of soil conservation are sufficiently great to justify continued reliance on economic incentives. See David Ervin, Shaping a Smarter Environmental Policy for Farming, 14 Issues Sci. & Tech. 73 (1998).
221. Roger Claasen, Compliance Provisions for Soil and Wetland Conservation, in Agricultural Resources and Environment Indicators 184, 187-88 (Keith Wiebe & Noel Gollehon eds., 2006), available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/arei/eib16/eib16_5-3.pdf.
222. Allan, supra note 129.
223. Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945, Jan. 9, 1946, reprinted June 12, 1999, § 32 (W. Austl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
224. Act No. 10 of 1938, Soil Conservation Act 1938, reprinted Feb. 9, 1999 (N.S.W.) (as amended by the Soil Conservation (Amended) Act 1985) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
225. Ann Hamblin, Bureau of Rural Scis., Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report): Land (2002), available at http://www.deh.gov.au/soe/2001/land/pubs/land.pdf.
226. The Law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002), art. 20 (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
227. Law on Water and Soil Conservation (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., June 29, 1991), art. 1 (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
228. Id. arts. 33-35.
229. Id. art. 36.
230. A general summary of the Chinese government's erosion program can be found in China, Dep't of Water & Soil Conservation, Ministry of Water Res., The Water and Soil Erosion and the Control Measures in China [sic], available at http://www.lanl.gov/chinawater/documents/ niucongheng.pdf.
231. For a general overview of Israel's activities in the field, see Alon Tal, National Report of Israel 2006 to the United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification (July 2006), available at http://www.unccd.int.
232. Although Israel has chosen not to submit a NAP pursuant to the UNCCD, it has a rich and diverse legislative history of regulating land use activities to prevent desertification, dating back to the colonial period of the British Mandatory Government after World War I. Indeed, among the first ordinances promulgated by the High Commissioner were a Sand Drift Ordinance and a Forestry Ordinance. See supra notes 134, 135.
233. Soil Erosion (Prevention) Ordinance, 1958, S.H. 37, §2.
234. Interview with Zvi Revhon, Dir., Dep't of Soil Conservation, Isr. Ministry of Agric., in Beit Dagan, Isr. (Mar. 5, 2006).
235. Interview with Shmuel Arbel, Dir., Isr. Soil Erosion Prevention Station, in Beit Dagan, Isr. (Mar. 5, 2006).
236. Sand Drift Ordinance, 2 Laws of Palestine 686 (Moses Doukhan ed., 1922). A catastrophic level of desertification took place during the millennium of Ottoman occupation, leaving the vast majority of the once heavily forested mountains around Jerusalem as virtual deserts. With a surprisingly strong sense of stewardship, the British Mandatory Government attempted to reverse the trend when it assumed power after World War I.
237. See Alon Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel 36-40, 46 (2002) [hereinafter Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land].
238. Id. at 40.
239. Soil Conservation Regulations, 1960 KT 1036 (amended by 1961 KT 1341; 1969 KT 2055; 1982 KT 1292).
240. These agencies are not independent local units, but staffed by agents from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture. Shmuel Friedman, Dir. of Grazing Dep't, Isr. Ministry of Agric., Lecture at Symposium on Grazing and Desertification (June 13, 2006).
241. Soil Conservation Regulations, 1960 KT 1036 (amended by 1961 KT 1341; 1969 KT 2055; 1982 KT 1292), reg. no. 32.
242. See, e.g., Fisheries Act 1996, 1996 S.N.Z. No. 88 (N.Z.);
243. Sustainable Fisheries Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1801 (1996). At most recent report, in 2004 New Zealand fish exports reached $1.2 billion with an impressive eighty-two percent of stocks at or near target levels.
244. See New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, New Zealand Fisheries at a Glance, http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Fisheries+at+a+glance/default.htm (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
245. Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002, Apr. 22, 2002, reprinted May 19, 2005 (Queensl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
246. See, e.g., Legge Regionale N. 4, Feb. 9, 2004, Disciplina Della Movimentazione di Ovini e Caprini a Scopa di Pascolo, Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Emilia-Romagna, Feb. 9, 2004 (Italy) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review);
247. Orden APa/3187/2003, Nov. 10, 2003, Programa integral coordinado de vigilancia y control de las encefalopatías espongiformes transmisibles de los animals, B.O.E. 203, 40, 340-41 (Spain) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
248. See, e.g., Law No. 543-1, Dec. 26, 1997, ob ochranye I ispolyeovanii rastityelnovo mira [On protection and usage of vegetation], art. 12 (Uzb.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
249. See, e.g., Law No. 768, June 24, 1993, ob usilenii otuetstvennosti za potravu posevov I povrezhdyeniye selskohozyaystvennih kultur, tutovnika I nasazhdyenie [On strengthening responsibility for damage caused to sown areas by grazing and damage of agricultural crops, mulberry groves, and plantations] (Taj.) (summary on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
250. The Forests Ordinance, 1926, 1 Laws OF Palestine 710 (1933).
251. Plant Protection (Damage by Goats) Law, 5710-1950, 4 LSI 181 (1949-50) (Isr.).
252. For a review of Israel's land status and policies, see generally Arie Shachar, Reshaping the Map of Israel: A New National Planning Doctrine, 555 Annals of the Am. Acad. of Pol & Soc. Sci. 209 (1998).
253. Alon Tal, On Protected Societal Values and the Criminality of Environmental Offenses, 40 Ha Praklit, J. Israeli Bar Ass'N 413-20 (1992) (in Hebrew).
254. Friedman, supra note 194.
255. Plant Protection (Damage by Goats) Law, 5710-1950, 4 LSI 181 (1949-50), § 5 (Isr.).
256. Id. § 6.
257. Id. § 7.
258. Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land, supra note 191, at 345-53.
259. There are some who argue that the grazing policies have more political than ecological motivation. See Tawfiq S. Rangwala, Inadequate Housing, Israel, and the Bedouin of the Negev, 42 Osgoode Hall L.J. 415, 443 (2004).
260. Plant Protection (Damage by Goats) Law, 5710-1950, 4 LSI 181 (1949-50), § 1 (Isr.).
261. Soil Conservation Regulations, 1960 KT 1036 (amended by 1961 KT 1341; 1969 KT 2055; 1982 KT 1292).
262. The anti-goat bias, in retrospect, began with the British, who were convinced that these animals were the primary cause of the severe land degradation that had taken place in Palestine. Other neighboring colonies, such as Syria and Trans-Jordan, adopted similar approaches. Over time, however, senior officials at Israel's Ministry of Agriculture reached the conclusion that properly controlled goats were beneficial and their "omnivorous" proclivities held biodiversity and fire prevention benefits for open space and forestry management. Interview with Mordechai Weitz, former Dir. of the Soil Conservation Dep't, Isr. Ministry of Agric. (Mar. 5, 2006).
263. See S. L. Rundle, Note, The Once and Future Federal Grazing Lands, 45 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1803, 1807 (2004).
264. For an excellent historical description of the "dust bowl" conditions leading up to the legislation, see Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West And Iit Disappearing Water 149-51 (2d ed. 1993).
265. Pub. L. No. 73-482, 48 Stat. 1269 (codified as amended at 43 U.S.C. § § 315-16 (2006)).
266. Reisner quotes a Nebraska physician who reported "[w]ind forty miles an hour and hot as hell. Two Kansas farms go by every minute." Reisner, supra note 214, at 149.
267. 43 U.S.C. § 315 (2006).
268. An excellent summary of the Act can be found at Ctr. for Wildlife Law, Univ. of N.M. Sch. of Law, Federal Wildlife Laws and Related Laws Handbook, available at http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/taylorgr.html (last visited Oct. 18, 2006).
269. 43 U.S.C. § 315a.
270. Besty Cody & Pamela Baldwin, Grazing Fees and Rangeland Management (Cong. Research Serv., CRS Report for Congress No. 96006, 1998) 2, available at http://ncseonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Agriculture/ag-17.cfm (stating that environmentalists have "pushed for a more open process for federal rangeland management decisions" and "have criticized agency methods and argue that the loss of native grasses has had disastrous effects on associated species, and that damage from grazing in some areas, particularly riparian (streamside) areas, is threatening the ecological functions of rangelands.").
271. 43 U.S.C. § 315d.
272. Id.
273. Id. § 315a.
274. Comm. on Rangeland Classification Bd. on Agric., Nat'l Research Council, Rangeland Health: New Methods to Classify, Inventory, and Monitor Rangelands 139 (1994) (describing "extensive resource damage on [federally] -managed rangelands caused by livestock grazing").
275. See supra notes 170-176 and surrounding text.
276. Eric W. Orts, Environmental Law with Chinese Characteristics, 11 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 545, 553 (2003).
277. The Law of Desertification Prevention and Control (promulgated by the Standing Comm. Nat'l People's Cong., Aug. 31, 2001, effective Jan. 1, 2002) (P.R.C.) (translation on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
278. Id. art. 18.
279. Id.
280. Id. art. 38.
281. Act No. 143, Dec. 8, 1998, Rural Lands Protection Act 1998, reprinted July 1, 2005 (N.S.W.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
282. Pastoral Land Management and Conservation Act 1989, Sept. 7, 1989, reprinted June 23, 2005 (S. Austl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
283. Id. arts. 4, 12.
284. Id. art. 41.
285. Id. art. 43(1)(a).
286. Id. art. 46.
287. Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002, Apr. 22, 2002, reprinted May 19, 2005 (Queensl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
288. Australia's National Report, supra note 128, at 6.
289. Id.
290. See Linda Courtenay Botterill, Late Twentieth Century Approaches to Living with Uncertainty: The National Drought Policy, in From Disaster Response to Risk Management: Australia's National Drought Policy 86-98 (Linda Courtenay Botterill & Donald A. Wilhite eds., 2006).
291. Australia's National Report, supra note 128, at 7.
292. Kenya's National Action Program, supra note 115, § 2.4.1.
293. Id.
294. In its "Agriculture and Pastoralism" section, Kenya's National Action Program lists several proposed actions to deal with the problems of carrying capacity and overgrazing that degrade the land. Kenya's National Action Program, supra note 115, § 5.5. These include: "formulat[ing] policies and enact[ing] legislation to provide for appropriate land use and tenure" and "promot[ing] adoption of [suitable] livestock, crops and trees in drylands."
295. Id. § 5.5.3.
296. Id. § 2.4.2.
297. See generally Melanie Steiner, The Journey from Rio to Johannesburg: Ten Years of Forest Negotiations, Ten Years of Successes and Failures, 32 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 629 (2002). Temperate and tropical forests are generally the focus of international discussions and agreements.
298. See, e.g., International Tropical Timber Organization, www.itto.or.jp (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
299. For example, Bulgaria's Forestry Law establishes a forest fund run by the National Department of Forests that, among other responsibilities, creates new forests through "collecting, obtaining and producing forest reproduction material, afforestation, growing, stock taking of the forests, support of the natural renewal and soil conservation." Law of the Forests, Dec. 29, 1997, reprinted 2005, art. 40 (Bulg.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review). Individuals and organizations can submit applications for their afforestation activities and their technical plans. Some examples of applicants include schools that carry out afforestation projects through voluntary labor, universities or government departments that develop scientific trials with fast growing species, and owners of forests and farm lands who create protective forests.
300. See id. art. 42.
301. Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land, supra note 191, at 102, 157.
302. This technique involves creating water-enriched patches in low-rain areas. These patches become home to parks consisting of clusters of trees. The resulting landscape resembles an African savanna rather than a forest. See Moshe Shachak et al., Ecosystem Management of Desertified Shrublands in Israel, 1 Ecosystems 475, 475 (1998).
303. The Forest (Conservation) Act, No. 69 of 1980, 22 Civ. Court Manual (Central Acts) 783 (1995) (India).
304. Gov't of India, Ministry of Env't & Forests, National Forest Policy (1988) [hereinafter India's National Forest Policy], available at http://www.nisenlaw.org/resources/res7/files/Forest%2OPolicy.
305. Id. § 4.1.
306. Id. § 2;
307. see also India's National Action Program, supra note 97, at 69.
308. India's National Forest Policy, supra note 250, § 2.2.
309. Id. § 4.2.1.
310. Id. § 4.2.
311. Id. § 4.3.
312. Id. § 4.3.4.
313. Id. § 4.6.
314. India's National Forest Policy, supra note 250, § 4.8.
315. Id. § 4.11.
316. Id. § 4.12.
317. Joint Forest Management, What is JFM?, http://www.jfmindia.org/ whatjfm.htm (last visited Oct. 18, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
318. Joint Forest Management, JFM in India, http://www.jfmindia.org/ jfmindia.htm#policy (last visited Oct. 18, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
319. The Forest (Conservation) Act, No. 69 of 1980, 22 Civ. Court Manual (Central Acts) 783, § 5.1.3 (1995) (India).
320. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Env't & Forests, State of Forest Report 2003, http://www.fsiorg.net/fsi2003/index.asp (last visited Oct. 31, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review);
321. cf. Ministry of Env't & Forests, India's Initial National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 8 (2004), http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/indnc1.pdf (graphing historic forest cover trends in India 1987-2001). JFM seems to have made a difference.
322. See India, Ministry of Env't & Forests, Annual Report 2005-2006, available at http://envfor.ic.in/report/report.html. Under the JFM program, local village communities are assigned forest areas to protect. Spurred on by the context of a national mission, JFM reaches out to local communities, utilizing a bottom-up approach, and it "has brought about a welcome change in the relationships between local communities and forest officials, besides improving the condition of forests, reducing encroachments and increasing the income of the local people."
323. B.S. Padmanabhan, For Sustainable Solutions, 22 Frontline, Mar. 12-25, 2005, available at http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2207/stories/ 20050408001710300.htm;
324. see also Govt. of Orissa, Dep't of Forest & Env't, Report on Activities of Forest and Environment Department § 5 (2004-05), available at http://orissagov.nic.in/forest&environment/ Annual%20Report%2004-05.pdf.
325. See generally Thomas Lundmark, Methods of Forest Law-Making, 22 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 783, 798-900 (1995).
326. Id.
327. Wisconsin has had a law in force to this end since 1927. Wis. Stat. § 77.01-16 (2006) (originally enacted in 1927).
328. Nevada's law imposes criminal penalties for non-compliance. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 528.090 (2006).
329. Sharon E. Duggan, Citizen Enforcement of California's Private Land Forest Practice Regulations, 8 J. Envtl. L. & Litig. 291, 300-05 (1994).
330. Tal, National Report, supra note 186, at 3.
331. Jewish National Fund, History, http://www.jnf.org/site/ PageServer?pagename=history (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
332. Through support of donors around the world, the Jewish National Fund has planted over 240 million trees since its founding in 1901. Id.
333. Woods and Forest Ordinance, 1 Laws of Palestine 710 (1920).
334. Woods and Forest Ordinance, 1964, S.H. 140.
335. Id.
336. At present, Israel's government is in the process of declaring all of its formally planned forest - roughly ten percent of total lands in the country - as forest reserves. Gershon Avni, Dir. of Land Dev. Auth., Address at the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Board Meeting (Feb. 16, 2006).
337. Walter Lehn & Uri Davis, Jewish National Fund 114 (1988).
338. The prohibited activities in forest reserves include uprooting any tree by its roots, allowing cattle grazing in or near the reserve, taking any wood products, burning or removing bark from trees, burning any weeds without taking precautions necessary to prevent the spread of fires, cultivating any lands that lie within reserves, damming waterways, and taking up residence within reserves. The Forestry Ordinance, 1936, § 5, 1 Laws of Palestine 710 (1937).
339. In recognition of the traditional reliance of local Arab populations on the forests for firewood, the law allows villagers living near forest reserves to remove fallen trees, but they must do so according to the conditions of a government-issued permit. The law also stipulates that any local resident living within a five kilometer radius of the forest must help fight fire in the event of conflagration. Id. § 6.
340. Id. § 17.
341. Trees and plants "sequester" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in sugars, starch, and cellulose, releasing oxygen. Carbon sequestration refers to the expansion of these carbon sinks. U.S. EPA, Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture and Forestry, Frequent Questions, http://www.epa.gov/sequestration/faq.html (last visited Nov. 28, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
342. James Salzman, Creating Markets for Ecosystem Services: Notes from the Field, 80 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 870, 874 (2005).
343. See, e.g., Karen Jorgensen, Report of the Chair, Expert Meeting on Synergies Among the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Combating Desertification and the Forest Principles (Mar. 17-20, 1997), http://www.bgu.ac.il/BIDR/events/synergy/chair.html (on file with Harvard Environmental Law Review);
344. see also Salvano Briceno, Institutional Linkages Among Multilateral Environmental Agreements: An Organizational and Educational Development Perspective 10 (July 14-16, 1999) (presented at the Int'l Conference on Synergies and Coordination Between Multilateral Environmental Agreements, UNU, Tokyo), available at http://www.geic.or.jp/ interlinkages/docs/Briceno.PDF.
345. Crown Lands Legislation Amendment (Carbon Sequestration) Act, 2006, No. 85 (N.S.W.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review). Among the jurisdictions actively developing "forest-related" climate laws are the European Union, Canada, Peru, Spain, and Denmark. Kenneth Rosenbaum et al., Climate Change and the Forest Sector: Possible National and Subnational Legislation 21-28 (2004).
346. Soil salinization can occur due to a variety of mechanisms. When underlying groundwater is salty and the levels rise and reach the ground, salt can be added to the soil. Irrigation can also contribute to soil salinity, as it can deliver water with high concentrations of salt. When plants use the water, or the water evaporates, they leave behind residual salts on the land. Daniel Hillel, World Bank, Salinity Management for Sustainable Irrigation 23 (2000).
347. Leena Ninan, Fighting Against Ourselves: Efforts To Combat Desertification & Land Degradation, 10 Currents: Int'l Trade L.J. 65, 68 (2001).
348. According to one estimate, urban people will begin to outnumber rural residents beginning in 2007, and most of the anticipated expansion of urbanized populations will be in dryland, developing nations. Joel Cohen, Human Population Grows Up, Sci. Am., Sept. 2005, at 48.
349. See generally Wendy B. Davis, Reasonable Use Has Become the Common Enemy: An Overview of the Standards Applied to Diffused Surface Water and the Resulting Depletion of Aquifers, 9 Albany L. Envtl. Outlook J. 1 (2004) (discussion of different legal mechanisms for ensuring sustainable recharge).
350. Tube wells reach the aquifer through narrow tubes rather than through traditional excavating. See, e.g., Sandra Postel, When the World's Wells RU.N. Dry, World Watch, Sept/Oct. 1999, at 30.
351. For a description of the system of water rights allocation for groundwater in the South Dakota drylands, see John H. Davidson, South Dakota Groundwater Protection Law, 40 S.D. L. Rev. 1, 23-24 (1995) (addressing South Dakota's no-mining statute, which prohibits mining of groundwater aquifers if the amount of water withdrawn annually exceeds the quantity of the average estimated annual recharge of water because it is not sustainable).
352. For instance, the rapid drawdown of the Ogallala aquifer across the plains region of the United States has been on hydrological radar screens for decades, but the lackluster legislative and policy response that allowed for the crisis to reach its present dimensions shows little signs of changing. See, e.g., Patrick E. Corbett, Note, The Overlooked Farm Crisis: Our Rapidly Depleting Water Supply, 61 Notre Dame L. Rev. 454 (1986). The long-term implications for global food security are ominous.
353. See Lester Brown, President, Earth Policy Inst., State of the Planet 4-5 (2006), http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/stateoftheplanet/ index.html (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
354. Fred Pearce, When the Rivers Run Dry: Water - the Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century 36 (2006).
355. Id.
356. See Hardin, supra note 29, at 1244-45.
357. Fred Pearce, Asian Farmers Sucking Continent Dry, New Scientist, Aug. 28, 2004, at 6.
358. Pearce, supra note 289, at 37.
359. Among the many excellent books dedicated to this topic are the following: Marc De Villers, Water (1999);
360. Robert Glennon, Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America's Fresh Waters (2002);
361. Dianne Raines Ward, Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly and the Politics of Thirst (2002).
362. Payal Sampat, Groundwater Shock: The Polluting of the World's Major Freshwater Stores, World Watch, Jan./Feb. 2000, at 10-21.
363. For a warning about the potentially disastrous ecological consequences of a decentralized water system in Spain see James J. Friedberg, Views Of Donana: Fragmentation And Environmental Policy in Spain, 3 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1, 48 (1990-97).
364. India's National Action Program, supra note 97, at 67.
365. Minstry of Env't & Forests, India: Second National Report on Implementation of the United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification (2002), available at http://www.unccd.int.
366. See Robert Cassen & Pravin Visaria, India: Looking Ahead to One and a Half Billion People, 319 Brit. Med. J. 995, 997 (1999) ("Perhaps the scarcest resources for India's next 50 years will be institutional capacity and political will.").
367. Water Resources Management Act, No. 284 (2004), Government Gazette of the Republic of Namib. No. 3357, at 1 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
368. Desert Research Found. of Namib., Namibia's Third National Report on the Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 15 (2004), available at http://unccd.int/cop/reports/ africa/national/2004/namibia-eng.pdf.
369. Water Resources Management Act, No. 284 (2004), Government Gazette of the Republic of Namib. No. 3357, at 1 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
370. Id. § 77.
371. Act No. 7, The Water Act, Mar. 5, 2003 (Swaz.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
372. Swaziland, National Action Program, arts. 4.2, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.7 (2000), available at http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/africa/ national/2000/swaziland-eng.pdf.
373. For an analysis of the perils of generality and insufficient specificity in environmental legislation, see generally Dorit Talitman et al., The Devil Is in the Details: Increasing International Law's Influence on Domestic Environmental Performance - The Case of Israel and the Mediterranean Sea, 11 N.Y.U. Envtl. L.J. 414 (2003).
374. Proclamation No. 129/2003, A Proclamation To Establish the National Drought Relief Coordinating Committee (2003), 12 Gazette of Eritrean Laws No. 1 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
375. Proclamation No. 197, Ethiopian Water Resources Management Proclamation (2000), Federal Negarit Gazeta of the Federal Democratic Rep. of Eth. No. 25, at 1250 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
376. Act No. 31, Water Act (1998) Cap. 20:24 (Zimb.) (as amended 2003) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
377. Act No. 8, Water Act (2002), 2002 Kenya Gazette 935 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
378. Kenya's National Action Program, supra note 115, § 5.7.1.
379. Kenya's Third National Report, supra note 115, § 1.1.3.
380. Act No. 8, Water Act (2002), 2002 Kenya Gazette 935, 946-47 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
381. As in all cases of privatization of water resources, concerns have been expressed about the implications of the law in terms of social justice: "Whereas the Kenya government seeks to move away from direct provision of water services in favour of ceding control to autonomous water service providers, this policy shift is fraught with ambiguities that may not augur well for the consumers, especially the poor." Sammy Wambua, Heinrich Boell Found., Water Privatization in Kenya 1 (2004), available at http://www.boell.de/downloads/global/ Water%20Privatisation%20in%20Kenya.pdf.
382. Albert Mumma, Kenya's New Water Law: An Analysis of the Implications for the Rural Poor, International Workshop on African Water Laws: Plural Legislative Frameworks for Rural Water Management in Africa (January 26-28, 2005), at 4, available at http://www.nri.org/waterlaw/AWLworkshop/ MUMMA-A.pdf.
383. Act No. 8, Water Act (2002), 2002 Kenya Gazette 935, 946-49, 1008-11, 1026-27 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
384. For a detailed review of Israel's policies, see Alon Tal, Seeking Sustainability: Israel's Evolving Water Management Strategy, 313 Science 1081 (2006) [hereinafter Tal, Seeking Sustainability].
385. Alon Tal et al., Sustainable Water Management in the Drylands: Recent Israeli Experience, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oct. 2005, at 2, 5, 8, 14 (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
386. Israel's 1959 Water Law has been updated several times. For a description of the country's basic water legislation, see Richard Laster, Legal Aspects of Water Quality, in Water Quality Management Under Conditions of Scarcity: Israel as a Case Study 263 (Hillel Shuval ed., 1980).
387. For a recent update, see Alon Tal, Natural Flow, Mecharai Misphat-Bar Ilan U. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2006).
388. For a critical review of the Israeli implementation of water pollution laws, see generally Rachelle Adam, Government Failure and Public Indifference: A Portrait of Water Pollution in Israel, 11 Colo. J. Int'l Envtl. L. & Pol'y 257 (2000).
389. The Water Law, 5719-1959, 13 L.S.I. 173 (Isr.).
390. Tal, Seeking Sustainability, supra note 316, at 1084.
391. Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land, supra note 191, at 224-25.
392. Id. at 239-42.
393. Alon Tal, Hawke Lecture at the University of South Australia, Water Wise: Learning from the Israeli Experience 9-11 (Oct. 30, 2003) (transcript on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
394. Personal Communication with Yaakov Lev, Dir. of Water Conservation Dep't, Isr. Water Comm'n, Tel Aviv (June 6, 2006).
395. For instance, eighty million cubic meters of wastewater each year is pumped to the desiccated southlands and utilized by the agricultural sector. Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land, supra note 191, at 221.
396. In all, some seventy-three percent of Israel's wastewater is recycled, with much of it used to support desert agriculture. Tal, Seeking Sustainability, supra note 316, at 1082.
397. For a discussion of Israel's wastewater recycling policies, see generally Marcelo Juanico & Eran Friedler, Wastewater Reuse for River Recovery in Semi-Arid Israel, 40 Water Sci. & Tech. 43, 43-50 (1999).
398. Tal, Pollution in a Promised Land, supra note 191, at 222-23.
399. Phoenix Lawhon, The Politics of Wastewater Standards: Technocracy, Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Decline of Fanner Power (Jan. 19, 2006) (unpublished thesis, Ben Gurion Univ.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
400. Israel, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Upgraded Effluent Quality Standards, http://sviva.gov.il/bin/en.jsp?enPage= e_BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDisp-What=Object&enDispWho= Articals12092&enZone=Wastewater_Treatment (last visited Nov. 4, 2006) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
401. Water Regulation 2002, reprinted Sept. 1, 2006 (Queensl.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
402. Water Management Act 2000, reprinted Aug. 1, 2005 (N.S.W.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
403. Water Act, Apr. 30, 1992, reprinted Jan. 14, 2004 (N. Terr.) (on file with the Harvard Environmental Law Review).
404. Council of Australian Governments, Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative Between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory (June 25, 2004), available at http://coag.gov.au/meetings/250604/ iga_national_water_initiative.pdf (outlining broad plan of action for steps to be taken over next decade to promote efficient water use and maintain healthy river and groundwater systems).
405. Australia's National Report, supra note 128, at 8-9.
406. S.R. Raine et al., Nat'l Ctr. For Eng'g in Agric., Univ. of S. Queensl., Drip Irrigation in the Australian Cotton Industry: A Scoping Study 2 (2000).
407. Patricia Wouters et al., The New Development of Water Law in China, 7 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 243, 283-300 (2004).
408. Pearce, supra note 289, at 109-10.
409. For example, one critique of Kenya's water legislation explains: "The Water Act 2000 broadly sets out the legal implementation framework for implementing this policy but is weak on clearly elaborating and outlining government policy on privatisation in the water section." Wambua, supra note 313, at 3.
410. See generally Diamond, Collapse, supra note 9. Diamond documents civilizations stretching over thousands of years that were wiped out due to their insouciant disregard for the ecological constraints and carrying capacities of their environments.
411. See discussion of funding issues supra at note 24.
412. NCCD, supra note 11, art. 5(e).
413. See, e.g., A. Warren & C. Agnew, Int'l Inst. for Env't & Dev., An Assessment of Desertification and Land Degradation in Arid and Semi-arid Areas 46 (1988): Colonialism and imperialism intensified the peripheral nature of the dry lands, and introduced other pernicious effects. In many imperial situations, cash-cropping was forcibly introduced to provide taxes to meet, among other things, imperial costs. Opium was grown in India, cotton in the Punjab and the Sudan, groundnuts and cotton in west Africa. These new crops forced out food crops, and when prices fell, encouraged farmers to plough up and plant increased acreages in order to meet their own costs, the new demands for cash, and the national demand for foreign currency.
414. See, e.g., Paul Finkelman, Civil Rights in Historical Context: In Defense of Brown, 118 Harv. L. Rev. 973, 997 (2005) (noting how the Supreme Court has molded public opinion);
415. see also Don Colburn, Seat Belts, Survival and the Law, Wash. Post, Feb. 13, 1985, at Z7 (noting that before seatbelt laws were passed, seatbelt usage was below fifteen percent).
416. See, e.g., David R. Given, Forging a Biodiversity Ethic in a Multicultural Context, 4 Biodiversity & Conservation 877 (1995) (discussing an evolution of local ethics in New Zealand regarding biological diversity, with an emphasis on the impact of the passage of the 1991 Resource Management Act on local attitudes).
417. "Nonpoint source pollution is so difficult to control because of the diversity of sources and the complexities inherent in interactions between land use and hydrology. No single sector of society, land use or medium is totally responsible." Congress on Control of Nonpoint Source Water Pollution, 20 Renewable Resources J. 6, 6 (2003).