Market mechanisms for biodiversity conservation : dissecting transnational law

Abstract

The emergent market mechanisms in biodiversity conservation policy have been largely appraised as promising and 'innovative' regulatory strategies. This thesis maps the growing attempts by various actors to deploy market mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, and their contestations. The purpose is to provide both an empirically informed analysis of the still somewhat enigmatic global governance space, and to expose the significance of approaching transnational legal processes without inherited conceptual categories and premises. The thesis unfolds in three steps. It first situates the emergence of market mechanisms for biodiversity conservation in the context of dominant epistemological positions and governance trends, arguing that these legitimate the use of the market in law and policy. The second part follows the introduction of concrete cases of market mechanisms from the discourses within conservation institutions to their real-world functioning. Emphasis is placed specifically on considering the institutional and normative interplay between the international and the transnational spheres; the way in which the operation of the market complements or challenges legal norms; and the political and ethical disputes involved in the setting up of the market mechanisms. The third part draws attention to the importance of framing these mechanisms. Analysing the governance function of market mechanisms by deploying regulatory concepts focuses on their effectiveness, but obscures the claims about their contested nature. The 'regulatory' framing is contrasted with the framing of the same processes as 'neoliberal conservation', as professed by human scientists. The two competing narratives point to the expectations of law in transnational processes as oscillating between an instrument serving a functionalist project and a placeholder for more radical demands for changed social relations and socio-economic trajectories. Acknowledging the bias of law serves to highlight, rather than downplay, transnational law's legitimacy in relation to its alternatives, including international law.