Conservation Laws and Treaties

Game and Wild Birds Preservation and Disposition Act

Prohibits the transportation of illegally taken wildlife, fish and plants

Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act

Taxes firearms and ammunition and funds distributed to states for habitat purchases and wildlife management

Clean Air Act

Establishes regulatory standards to reduce air pollution and 1990 amendment established cap and trade for sulfur oxides and mandated phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals

Wilderness Act

Preserves primitive areas in their natural state and establishes national wilderness preservation system

Clean Water Act

regulates surface water quality

Endangered Species Act

Protects endangered and threatened species and mandates FWS and NMFS to identify threatened and endangered species and develop species recovery plans for them

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

manages and reduces pollution associated with coal mining

Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)

recognizes that conservation issues extend over national borders, protects essentially all native birds, and helped to end commercial hunting/trade of birds, feathers, eggs, etc.

International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW)

regulates whaling for commercial, scientific, and traditional purposes to maintain sustainable levels

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

regulates trade of species endangered in part or entirely by that trade

Framework Convention on Climate Change

Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Convention on Biological Diversity

Agreement to develop strategies for “conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity”

Kyoto Protocol

Global target to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 5% below 1990 levels by 2012

Paris Climate Agreement

Agreement seeks to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial level and through voluntary reductions in CO2 emissions