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Legal Protection of Rare and Endangered Species
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2.3.3. Legal Protection of Rare and Endangered Species
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, one of the measures promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to be taken by all Parties to the Convention is the development and implementation of legislation and other regulations with a view to protecting threatened and endangered species and populations. The notion of “rare and endangered species” is defined in the Agreement on a Book of Rare and Endangered Animal and Plant Species – Red Book of the CIS Member-States dated 23 June 1995, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine participating in this Agreement as the CIS member-states. However the entering of certain plant or animal species into the CIS Red Book has no legal implications, i.e. does not entail any limitation of their use, being a mere formality. The reason is that not a single regulatory instrument (including the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus or the Code on Administrative Infractions of the Republic of Belarus, for example) ever mentions the notion of “the CIS Red Book”. Therefore this notion (the CIS Red Book) should be introduced into the national legislations of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. The entering of certain plant or animal species into the national Red Books has the following consequences: universal withdrawal of the corresponding species from economic circulation; complete prohibition of picking, storing, shooting and entrapping animals, gathering fruit, destroying plans or other such actions jeopardizing rare or endangered species or changing their natural habitats. Users of natural resources are in charge of special protection of these species, while enterprises, institutions and individuals are responsible under law for their illegal acquisition or destruction. The procedure of issuing licenses for the acquisition (collection) of animals and plants belonging to the species included into the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus was adopted by the Collegium of the State Committee of the Republic of Belarus for Environment on 1 March 1993. In the Republic of Belarus, such licenses are issued only to legal entities. Applications from individuals for licenses for the acquisition (collection) of rare animals and plants are not accepted or considered.
In the Republic of Belarus, a draft law “On Flora” was passed in the first reading in December 2002. In the Russian Federation, these relations are not regulated by law. Therefore, there is a need for the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation to adopt their national laws “On Flora”.
