New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

3.2 I NTERNATIONAL L EGAL M ECHANISMS OF THE P ROTECTION OF B IOLOGICAL D IVERSITY IN THE C ONTEXT OF C URRENT T ECHNOLOGIES *

By Juraj Panigaj (Pavol Jozef Šafárik University)

Introduction “Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life, it is perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and sciences.” 236 It is fair to say international law, or law in general, is quite complex. But it is not a match for the complexity of nature, its ecosystems, and all its living and non-living parts. Biodiversity is an integral part of nature, and it means, in accordance with Convention on Biological Diversity, “the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.” 237 Within this article, we try to analyze the relationship between biodiversity and technology, primarily from the legal perspective. Of course, before we analyze certain international treaties, we consider it important to pay an attention to the issue in question in a more general manner. That being said, we start the paper with some “calculations,” that should highlight the severity of the situation, and necessity for proper regulation, but mostly application of set rules. Later, as already mentioned, the paper discusses technology-biodiversity relationship from the perspective of certain international environmental treaties. In regard to biodiversity the article deals in the beginning only with the biodiversity of animal species. 1. Biodiversity and technology in numbers As the quote of Freeman Dyson from the beginning implies, above the technology there is the “ gift of life.” This is all connected with the issue of biodiversity because it is one of the cornerstones, necessary for all life on Earth, including humans. 238 It seems humanity is quite aware of the importance of biodiversity, but awareness is only a first step. A quick look at the numbers shows us, that as humanity, we did not take many steps so far. In the last 50 years, wildlife populations have shrunk by 69% on average. 239 In the South America region, where the Amazon Forest lies, decline is the most severe, * This article was processed with the support of the project APVV-20-0576 under the title “Green ambitions for sustainable development (European Green Deal in the Context of International and Domestic law”. 236 Brynjolfsson E, McAfee A, The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (Norton, 2014), p. 6. 237 Convention on Biological Diversity, June 5, 1982, reprinted in 31 ILM 822 (1992), Art. 2. 238 ‘Why is biodiversity important?’ ( The Royal Society ) accessed 1 November 2023. 239 Greenfield P, ‘The biodiversity crisis in numbers – a visual guide’ ( The Guardian , 1 December 2022) accessed 1 November 2023.

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