US Wildlife Management

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND CONVENTION ON THE AUTHORITY AND RELATIONSHIP OF STATE GOVERNMENTS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The United States of America has a couple of laws that are meant to protect the environment . Among these laws are the Endangered Species Act (ESA , the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES , and the Marine Mammal Protection Act . The Endangered Species Act was created and passed by Congress in 1973 , after President Nixon declared the prevailing conservation efforts as inadequate . Additionally , within the same year , the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna was created . CITES is an international accord that curbs global trade in animals and plants that would be hurt by the trade (Pretorius , 1995 The Marine Mammal Protection Act was proclaimed in the United States of America on 21st October 1972 . The act forbids harassing , capturing hunting or killing of marine mammals in American waters as well as by its citizens on high seas , and further prohibits importation of sea mammals including their products into America (Baur and Irvin , 2001 Consequently , the creation of these three acts - The Endangered Species Act (ESA , and the Marine Mammal Protection Act have resulted to increased authority of the federal government and curtailed authority of the state government over the control of wild fauna and flora , whilst the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild and Fauna (CITES ) has levelled the authority of both of these governments in addition these laws have strengthened the relationship between the federal and the states government

Endangered Species Act

The enactment of the Endangered Species Act increased the authority of the federal government over the control and protection of endangered species . The federal government through the Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of State is charged with implementing the provisions of the Endangered Species Act . In this regard , the federal government through its agencies , Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS , and NOAA which includes the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS ) decides which species are endangered or not (Nixon , 1972 , 52 . Thus , the protection of a certain species depends on the decision of the federal government (Eilperin 2008 . Although the Act allows the general public to place petitions compelling the federal government to act , the federal government still retains the power to list any species as threatened . In fact , according to Washington post (March , 2008 ) the federal government under the leadership of George Bush restricted the number of species to be listed beginning the year 2001 . Moreover , the act gives the federal government through the Secretary of Defence the authority to make any exemptions to the provisions of the act

Apart from reducing their authority over determination of the endangered species , the act also increased the dependency of state governments on the federal governments . Thus , any policy formulation regarding the protections and involvement of species classified as threatened has to make reference to the decisions of the federal government or rather its agencies delegated...