The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species: Local Authority and International Policy

Foreword

In the fall of 1989 I found myself in the uncomfortable position of being a federal government employee detailed to the state of Maryland to help implement a policy at the county level. At the time I was a young analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, and I was working on a project to test the practicality and cost-effectiveness involved in the delivery of government benefits to recipients using plastic cards, automated teller machines and point of sale devices, a process that is now known as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT).

I learned a great deal working on that project, but what has stuck with me most after all these years is the great difficulty of implementing national government policy in a system of federalism, where 50 states plus other sovereign units have competing interests, differing levels of capabilities and varying political and policy cultures. The challenges of coordinating and communicating between the levels of government and across the different federal, state and local agencies were enormous. It is still remarkable to me that EBT was able to overcome all of these hurdles to become a universally accepted way to deliver both federal and state benefits. But it is the hurdles that confronted implementation that I remember most.

Implementation of federal laws, regulations and policies in an environment of federalism is frequently difficult. Implementing federal laws that flow out of international law adds a whole new layer of complexity to implementation, one that is almost always ignored by scholars. However, in this book Jonathan Liljeblad offers an enlightening and long-overdue look at the issue of local implementation of international policy. Using a case study of the implementation of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and its domestic analogue in the U.S., the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the Port of Los Angeles Police, Liljeblad is able to arrive at insightful conclusions as well as concrete recommendations for policymakers wishing to improve coordination and execution of international policies that rely on local governments for their implementation. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, Liljeblad explores how the complexity of federalism is exacerbated by the presence of an international component. Liljeblad finds that law enforcement personnel tend to view international law more negatively than domestic law even when they are dealing with the same issue. He also demonstrates that the views of street level bureaucrats vary greatly depending on the policy in question, and that implementation of CITES confronts many more challenges than other international policies enforced by the Port of Los Angeles Police.

Perhaps this book’s greatest contributions are the real world policy recommendations that flow from its analysis. In an environment of increasing devolution, implementing international policies is more and more the responsibility of local authorities acting as agents of state governments in the United States. Liljeblad calls for greater linkages between federal officials in the Fish and Wildlife Service who are nominally responsible for ensuring that the provisions of the Endangered Species Act are carried out, and the local authorities who do the actual work of enforcing the law. This recommendation applies not only to CITES, but every policy that has its origins in an international agreement. He likewise argues that granting greater authority to local officials to carry out the law would strengthen the linkages between the levels of government. Local law enforcement needs to understand the connections between international law and domestic policies which share a common goal, yet may be construed differently by agents of government. Cross level communication and education are essential. Liljeblad’s recommendations would foster a climate of greater understanding of the connections between international and domestic policy and should be heeded by all levels of government to remove unnecessary roadblocks that can derail implementation.

SCOTT A. FRISCH

Professor and Chair of Political Science

California State University

Channel Islands

November 2013

Preface

Prevailing U.S. government philosophy espouses the devolution of authority from federal to local levels. This trend opens the possibility of greater local involvement in policy implementation, and provides international policymakers the opportunity to improve global policies by adding the efforts of local actors to their implementation framework. Much of international policy involves enforcement through international-to-national linkages, but devolution offers the potential to extend the implementation chain by providing national-to-local linkages.

This book explores the nature of such linkages, using the case study on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) via its domestic analogue, the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The analysis employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, including interviews, survey research, statistical analysis, and legal document review. The research finds that while the framework of CITES enforcement in the U.S. allows for a national-to-local extension in the CITES implementation chain, it also presents challenges that should be addressed by international policymakers who consider devolution as a way of improving global policy.

JONATHAN LILJEBLAD

Postdoctoral Fellow,

Law School,

University of New England

New South Wales

Australia

January 2014

Acknowledgments

Scholarly work is a product of time, energy, and resources applied with diligence, discipline, and dedication to the process of analysis. It is important to note, however, that scholarship is not a solo endeavor but rather a social one: scholarship is not the product of the scholar alone, but also the many people associated with the scholar whose support constitutes a major, if not the majority, of the time, energy, and resources consumed in advancing the research process. As a result, some recompense should be given to the sacrifices made by the many and not the one.

For this scholarly work, no amount of recompense can make up for the sacrifices made by the many who assisted me. What I can do and wish to do is to offer recognition of those who have helped me, and share the product of the research with them.

To begin, I express my deepest gratitude to the professionals who provided me with guidance and patience during what proved to be a very long path towards growth and maturity. Thanks go to the members of my dissertation committee: Alison Renteln, Richard Dekmejian, and Robert Keim. Without them, I never would have finished this research. Additional gratitude also goes to Sheldon Kaminiecki. Without him, I never would have started this research. It is from these scholars that I learned the craft of my profession.

I also dedicate this work to my parents, Eileen Aye Liljeblad and Kjell Liljeblad, whose love and encouragement sustained me throughout the course of this research. I also dedicate this to my brother, Moe Win, who preceded me into academia and provided me with many lessons on the way. We are a family, and we did what families do: share, commiserate, support, differ, bicker, separate, but always come back together and advance forward as one.

Last, I wish to honor my grandparents, Roma and Lester Blaschke. They may not have been related to me according to a scientific definition based on genetics. But their undying faith and continued devotion to the project that is my life—even when such faith and devotion was not warranted—inspired and motivated me through the darkest moments, and that makes them all the family I could have ever wished to have. That makes us related, and it makes them part of me. My biggest regret is that the people who were so instrumental in my life are not here to share in the fruits of what is really their labor. I wish they were here now. I want to live as a testament to them. This work is in their memory. Thank you.

JL

The Convention on International Trade

of Endangered Species

Local Authority and International Policy

1 • Statement of Problem

I. Argument

In the prevailing political climate the U.S. has witnessed a shift in federal power, with a trend of decentralization in authority to state and local governments. This is often labeled as devolution, and grouped within discussions on federalism and state and local jurisdictions. Some areas affected by this mindset include those dealing with national security, traffic across U.S. borders, and environmental issues. Steps have already been taken towards allocating what was formerly deemed exclusive federal jurisdiction onto individual communities, with discussions in popular and government circles over enforcement of national laws using not only federal agencies but also local ones.[1] Implicit behind these moves is the belief that implementation of national laws can be served through greater utilization of local government agencies.

The trend to devolution to local law enforcement seems to open a bridge of greater community-level inclusion in larger-scale policy implementation—not only in terms of the local now interacting with the national, but the local now connecting with the global. This is because national laws are sometimes expressions of U.S. obligations to international instruments. Hence, enforcement of a national law effectively means enforcement of an international one.

For global policymakers, such a scenario suggests another level of linkages in policy creation. To ensure effectiveness, they must now follow an implementation chain starting from an instrument’s creation, continuing to support of signatory members, and then extending to the subordinate authorities within each signatory. This chain can be seen as involving two links between three levels. The first link is global-to-national, in terms of going from international instruments to participating national signatories. The second link is national-to-local, extending from national government to local government.

Much of international policy implementation involves discussions of the first link. The trend to devolution, however, means a greater role for local government in global policy, since devolution calls for greater local participation in enforcement of national laws—national laws which sometimes enunciate U.S. obligations as a signatory to international law. This suggests an increasing significance for the second, national-to-local link in discussions over international policy, and also points out the need to pay more attention to issues at the local level, particularly for policymakers who hope to incorporate local agencies in international policy implementation efforts.

This analysis addresses the potential for involving local government in global policy implementation, and so encompasses both links between these three levels, with particular focus on the local level. For this research, this means beginning with a review of CITES as an international treaty, briefly detailing its framework, continuing on to an introduction of the ESA and related government agencies, and finally discussing the nature of connections to Port of Los Angeles Police.

Such speculation, however, assumes that there are, in fact, linkages between local and national government with respect to international policy. This is not clear. In order to accept the existence of such linkages, and hence their implications for policymakers, there needs to be assurance through analysis. Analysis entails investigation through theory supported by factual or experimental study to confirm the nature of local-to-global connections.

This research is a step towards such requirements, and endeavors to provide a method testing the relationship between international instruments and local enforcement. The approach will be to utilize a selection of international treaties to which the United States is a signatory, and for each of which the federal government has enacted national laws. The selection will provide a case study, with a specific treaty being utilized for in-depth review, and the others serving as controls. The analysis will then conduct the case study by investigating relevant theory and conducting field research, with the intent of reviewing both de jure and de facto connections between local implementation and global policy within the case. The goal is to obtain results to assess the state of the linkages, and then discuss implications to theory and policy.

In rough terms, the argument is that the speculations regarding linkages between local and global levels are not only plausible, but very much true. The hope is that improving such relationships will assist with the implementation of international policies. The details of the argument, as well as the research method, are presented below.

II. Case Study

This analysis adopts the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) as a case study. The U.S. is a signatory to CITES, and has implemented the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in obligation to its signatory duties to CITES. In terms of the local-to-global linkage for the U.S., this turns the research into a study of the relationship between international efforts to manage the trade of endangered species and the actions of local enforcement agencies to support them. In so doing, the research becomes an assessment of the potential the local level has for aiding in the implementation of an international policy instrument such as CITES.

CITES is a particularly useful treaty for a case study, since its enforcement ultimately devolves to a local level. The design of CITES makes the treaty dependent on the actions of its signatory members. As a result, it is inherently tailored toward the inclusion of actors operating below the global level, and allows the freedom for signatories to incorporate local communities in enforcement of the treaty. Because CITES revolves around a fundamental principle that each signatory should be responsible for protecting endangered species within their borders, CITES creates a decentralized management structure wherein the bulk of enforcement responsibility and power is retained by the treaty’s member nation-states and a limited administrative role is reserved in a central CITES Secretariat restricted to coordinating information and scheduling treaty conferences. This raises the issue of CITES being dependent on local enforcement for its implementation, with the danger of failures at the local level degrading the effectiveness of the treaty at the international level.

III. Methodology

The research method consists of a hypothesis, theory to provide context, a research sample for study, specification of variables to draw from the sample, and the research tools to perform the analysis. From this, results are expected that will evaluate the strength of the hypothesis. The goal is to find insights relevant to theory with implications for practical policymaking, as well as offer directions for further useful research.

Hypothesis

Following from the argument, the general expectation of this investigation is that with respect to international policies there are linkages between local implementation and global instruments, and hence that there are opportunities to strengthen enforcement of those instruments through greater use of local agents. In terms of the specified case study, which consists of CITES expressed in the U.S. through the ESA, this rough statement can be clarified into the hypothesis that there is a connection between CITES and local law enforcement agencies, and that CITES success can be improved by greater inclusion of such agencies.

In terms of individual questions, this can be viewed as a set:

• What is the nature of the current relationship between CITES and relevant law enforcement?

• If the relationship is to be improved, what issues are there to be rectified?

• If the relationship is to be improved, what are the most effective ways to integrate local agencies in international policy implementation?

Theory

For theory, the analysis will provide context for the hypothesis and research method. The analysis will first provide an overview of the arguments regarding trends of both globalization of topics to international levels and devolution of them to local ones. After this, the discussion will then present theoretical perspectives of international politics, and highlight those aspects that address linkages between the global and local—particularly those aspects with insights useful for considering the dependence of international environmental instruments like CITES upon local law enforcement agencies subordinate to the U.S. federal government.

Research Sample

The research method utilizes a research sample in two different senses: a sample in terms of the treaty used for study and a sample from which data was gathered. In terms of treaty samples, the analysis selects treaties all comparable to each other, in the sense that they each 1) deal with international traffic in a particular field, 2) have the U.S. as a signatory member, and 2) have an analogue in U.S. federal law. With CITES being chosen as the instrument for in-depth analysis because of the amenability of its structure to test local-to-global linkages, this meant that other treaties became controls. Based on the criteria, the other treaties adopted are as follows:

• Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

• Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (CNDPS)

• Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Biological Weapons, Chemical Weapons Convention (CNBC)

• Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons (CSTP)

• Trade-Related Intellectual Property Agreements (TRIPS)

Each treaty has a domestic analogue, which are, respectively:

• Endangered Species Act (ESA)

• Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (CSIE)

• Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act (DWMD)

• Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVP)

• U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Regulations (CBP)

For a data sample, the research involves field data delineated by geography and sample subjects. The case study here, too, specifies a singular geographic location and particular set of subjects with characteristics amenable to study testing the questions of the hypothesis.

Geographically, the analysis focuses on the Port of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a major point of entry for international traffic to the United States, being one of only two major international seaports on the West Coast (the other being Seattle, Washington). Indeed, it is the busiest port in the western U.S. coast in terms of incoming tonnage of cargo, receiving more than 50,000,000 tons per year, with over 45,000,000 coming from foreign sources.[2] This domination extends beyond shipping traffic to alternative air traffic: in comparison, Miami International Airport, the busiest U.S. airport in terms of international freight, receives only approximately 1.68 million tons of cargo per year, and Los Angeles International Airport, the third busiest U.S. airport in terms of international freight, only processes a little over 2,000,000 tons per year.[3] The comparative volume of trade at the Port of Los Angeles, relative to air traffic