The book covers that part of public international law that deals with the protection of wild fauna and flora and as such it is part of the concept of international environmental law. The book deals with international legal instruments, usually multilateral, which have as their main goal the protection of wild fauna and/or flora e.g. the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) of 1973 and the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992. It provides a historical survey, an explanation of some terms and an analysis of the underlying values for nature protection. The substantive law discussed is divided into general international law and special international law. In the part on `general international law', the scarce principles of international law concerning problems of fauna and flora protection, such as the preservation principle and the common heritage principle are examined. In the part on special international law' the objects protected by that law such as species, genetic diversity, ecosystem and habitat is dealt with, as well as the concepts involved. The protection of the object `species' is divided into general protection of species and the special protection of threatened animals and plants. Finally, the part on adjective law deals with the implementation of the international law on wild fauna and flora and considers the different mechanisms of implementation contained in the international legal instruments concerned. The book is based on the author's lecturing experience in international public law during thirty years, as well as on his membership of the Commission on Environmental Law of the IUCN, the International Council onEnvironmental Law and the Netherlands Committee for International Nature Protection.
