Essay On Honey Buzzard

778 Words4 Pages

Jonas Ebbesson’s approach of examining the different laws protecting the environment seems at first sight a bit uncommon (at least for lawyers). Instead of first looking into the different sources of law on a national and international basis, he picks out one specific species, the honey buzzard, and explains how this migratory bird is legally protected in all the different regions and countries it visits throughout its journey. The honey buzzard is what could be called a “globalised species”: it migrates across large areas from Europe to Western Africa and thereby naturally crosses a number of borders. Obviously its survival depends on adequate living conditions in all these areas. The wild population of the honey buzzard is thought to be exposed …show more content…

The first prohibits the hunting and capture of the honey buzzard as well as the taking of and causing damage to its eggs and nests. Still, the biggest danger the honey buzzard faces when breeding in Sweden is not being hunted but rather the lack of access to “honey buzzard-friendly” environment. A closer look to the Environmental Code, which was amended in 2001 to better comply with the 1979 EC Birds Conservation Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive, reveals, that even though it provides several different forms and instruments to protect species and their habitats, most of them are not adequate for the honey buzzard. Only 10% of the Swedish forests are designated as national parks or nature reserves, whereas huge areas remain unprotected. The Forest Act in contrary applies to all kind of forests in Sweden, but does not state a lot of nature conservation principles, thus few restrictions with direct relevance to the honey buzzard can be found. Summarising it can be said that the protection of the honey buzzard’s habitat is essential for its welfare; still legal means provided are either inadequate or used in an inadequate

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