Ch. 10— Maintaining Biological Diversity Internationally • 259 



Table 10-2.— Countries Where National Conservation 

 Strategies Are Being Developed 



SOURCE: Mark Hatle, deputy director, Conservation for Development Center, In- 

 ternational Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. 

 Gland, Switzerland, personal communication, Oct. 17, 1986. 



That is, the document used "shall" rather than 

 "should," despite a general recognition that "by 

 its very nature, the charter could not have any 

 binding force, nor have a regime of sanctions 

 attached to it" (83). 



The charter includes several principles rele- 

 vant to biological diversity: 



• The genetic viability on the Earth shall not 

 be compromised; the population levels of 

 all life forms, wild and domesticated, must 

 be at least sufficient for their survival, and 

 to this end, necessary habitats shall be safe- 

 guarded. 



• The allocation of areas of the Earth to vari- 

 ous uses shall be planned, and account 

 shall be taken of the physical constraints, 

 the biological productivity and diversity, 

 and the natural beauty of the areas con- 

 cerned. 



• The principles set forth in the present char- 

 ter shall be reflected in the law and prac- 

 tice of each State, as well as at the interna- 

 tional level. 



• All planning shall include among its essen- 

 tial elements the formulation of strategies 

 for the conservation of nature, the estab- 

 lishment of inventories of ecosystems, and 

 assessments of the effects on nature of pro- 

 posed policies and activities; all of these 

 elements shall be disclosed to the public 

 by appropriate means in time to permit ef- 

 fective consultation and participation. 



Other documents include action plans and 

 recommendations from international organi- 

 zations, such as the UNESCO Action Plan for 

 Biosphere Reserves (discussed later in this 

 chapter), the lUCN Bali Action Plan and Rec- 

 ommendations (resulting from the 1982 World 

 National Parks Congress), and lUCN General 

 Assembly Resolutions. A recently developed 

 tropical forests action plan (84) has also been 

 receiving increased recognition by various 

 countries and intergovernmental and interna- 

 tional nongovernmental agencies. 



International Laws Relating to 

 Offsite Maintenance 



The scope of international law addressing off- 

 site maintenance of diversity is far more limited 

 than that for onsite maintenance. Growing in- 

 ternational concern over loss of genetic re- 

 sources and recognition of the increased im- 

 portance of offsite maintenance in supporting 

 national and international conservation initia- 

 tives have focused attention on this gap in in- 

 ternational law (21,47). 



To date, attention has been largely focused 

 on defining national responsibilities with re- 

 gard to crop germplasm maintenance and ex- 

 change between countries. Tangentially related 

 international legal instruments deal with inter- 

 national patent protection of biological mate- 

 rial and processes, as well as international 

 quarantine as it relates to the flow of plants, 

 animals, and microbes between countries. 



Cermpiasm Maintenance and Excliange 



Issues of offsite germplasm maintenance, 

 control, and exchange have assumed a promi- 

 nent, if controversial, position in international 

 debates in recent years. Declarations of the im- 

 portance of genetic diversity can be traced to 

 the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human 

 Environment. In addition to the Stockholm 

 Declaration mentioned earlier, the conference 

 produced 106 recommendations as tasks and 

 guidelines that should be adopted by govern- 

 ments and international organizations (76). Rec- 



