Bridging the gap between international and domestic law - an interactional analysis of the UK's internalisation of the CBD Aichi Targets.

生物多样性正在以前所未有的惊人速度消失，地球目前正在经历另一次大灭绝（Ceballos et al. 2015）。我们星球上生物多样性的微妙平衡包括所有生物和它们之间的相互作用，使地球适合居住。如果这种平衡受到破坏，预计其影响将远远超出物种的消失。例如，预计加剧的气候变化将造成粮食不安全并加剧不平等——所有这些都可能导致广泛的冲突（千年生态系统评估2000年）。1992年《联合国生物多样性公约》（CBD）是解决全球生物多样性丧失问题的主要多国条约。《生物多样性公约》当前战略计划的最后期限是2020年，但很明显，20个爱知生物多样性目标（ATs）中的大多数将无法实现，这意味着该体系需要得到加强，以确保遵守其法律义务。考虑到全球生物多样性的不稳定状态，作为奖学金的一部分，作为拟议专著的一部分（将在我的博士论文中出现）所产生的章节将探讨需要做些什么，以使生物多样性公约下的法律制度更有效地解决全球生物多样性危机。本专著首先测试了现有的多学科理论理解，以探讨为什么ATs尚未实现。然后分析了作为具有约束力的国际法律义务来源的生物多样性公约的动态，以实现目标。这一分析从法律义务的产生到在国际一级遵守这些义务，以及在国内一级执行这些义务。《生物多样性公约》的义务是如何从国际法律转变为国家法律，并在国内得到实施的，这是迄今为止第一次对这些动态进行解释的研究，这不仅解释了未能实现当前目标背后的原因，而且还将指导未来战略计划的制定。该研究的结论是，目前的战略计划失败的部分原因是国际层面的程序的局限性。它认为，这些限制很难克服，因为《生物多样性公约》的决策过程需要所有缔约国达成共识。它认为，这一限制可以通过扭转创设义务的进程来克服，即发展国内惯例，这些惯例随后在缔约国之间形成共同谅解，并可能影响国际舞台上的决策。作为解决生物多样性危机的综合方案，拟议的专著建议改进各级治理的法律和政策制定过程。它特别指出，在国内一级，不仅有机会满足已演变为国内法和政策的国际义务的要求，而且有机会进一步加强这些义务，以提高围绕这些义务的相互作用的有效性，从而实现遵守。第二，它认为，在国内一级形成的这些得到加强的谅解有机会反馈到国际一级，影响和推动这一级的共同谅解。本研究采用了一种新的混合方法，将理论分析、访谈和《生物多样性公约》第13次缔约方会议（CBD COP）的微观民族志相结合。因此，本研究采用了一种独特的社会法律方法，使用不同的理论来理解国际法律义务的影响，并通过应用互动法理论来理解国际义务的制定及其在国内层面的传播（brunn<s:1>和Toope， 2010）。这项开创性的、影响深远的研究填补了现有文献在理解国内履行国际法律义务方面的一个重要空白。

Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented and alarming rate and the planet is currently experiencing yet another mass extinction (Ceballos et al. 2015). The delicate balance of biodiversity on our planet includes all living things and their interactions that makes it habitable. If this balance is disturbed, it is predicted to have far reaching consequences beyond just the loss of species. For example, exacerbated climate change is predicted to create food insecurity and increase inequality - all of which could lead to widespread conflict (The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2000). The 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the primary multinational treaty addressing the global level biodiversity loss. The deadline for the CBD's current strategic plan is 2020 but it is clear that most of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets (ATs) will not be achieved, which means that the system needs to be strengthened to ensure compliance with its legal obligations. Considering the precarious state of biodiversity globally, the chapters produced as part of the proposed monograph (which will emerge from my PhD thesis) as part of this fellowship will explore what needs to be done to make the legal regime under the CBD more effective at addressing the global biodiversity crisis. The monograph first tests the existing multidisciplinary theoretical understandings to probe why the ATs have not been achieved. It then analyses the dynamics of the CBD, as a source of binding international legal obligations, to achieve the ATs. This analysis spans from the creation of legal obligations to compliance with such obligations at the international level, as well as their implementation at the domestic level. How CBD obligations travel from international to national law and are implemented at the domestic level has not been studied before and this is the first ever research to explain these dynamics, which not only explains the causes behind the failure to achieve the current targets but will also guide the development of a future strategic plan.The research concludes that the current strategic plan failed in part due to limitations of processes at the international level. It argues that these limitations are difficult to overcome because of the CBD's decision making process that requires consensus of all State Parties. It argues that this limitation can be overcome through reversing the process of obligation creation, that is, the development of domestic practices which subsequently develop shared understandings among State Parties and can influence decision making in the international arena. As a comprehensive package to tackle the biodiversity crisis, the proposed monograph suggests improvements in legal and policy making processes at all levels of governance. In particular, it argues that there is an opportunity at the domestic level to not only meet the requirements of international obligations that have traveled down to domestic laws and policies but also to further strengthen them to increase the effectiveness of interactions around them in order to achieve compliance. Secondly, it argues that there is an opportunity for these strengthened understandings formed at the domestic level to feed back up to the international level and to influence and push forward shared understandings at this level. The research uses a novel mixed methodology combining doctrinal analysis, interviews and a micro-ethnography of CBD Conference of the Parties 13 (CBD COP). The research, therefore, adopts a unique socio-legal approach using different theories to understand the effect of international legal obligations and by applying the theory of interactional law to understand the making of international obligations and their travel to domestic level (Brunnée and Toope, 2010). This pioneering, high impact research fills an important gap in existing literature on understanding domestic implementation of international legal obligations.