Biodiversity and Conservation: Cross-Border Legal and Regulatory Perspectives

This article provides an overview of the legal and policy frameworks for the protection of threatened and vulnerable wildlife on private lands in Canada and the United States, the approaches adopted in different jurisdictions and the response of key constituencies, and formulates recommendations based on these experiences. Canada and the United States serve as an important source of comparison in terms of biodiversity protection mechanisms for several reasons, ranging from geography and legal systems protections to shared economic concerns and development. Additionally, the shared fundamental dichotomy between governance at the national/federal level and the provincial/state level is a key area of comparison since there are many overlaps in these elements of governance across systems. At the same time, these relationships are governed subject to different forms of legal imperatives given the nature of articulated national and subnational powers and roles in Canadian law and the Constitution of the United States. Since both systems give primacy of place in law and regulation related to biodiversity and associated resources to the national/federal level, any comparisons must start at this level.