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Centre for International Law and ������Ƭisation Holds 2025 Rule of Law and Sustainable Development Seminar

The Annual Rule of Law and Sustainable Development seminar was recently hosted by the Centre for International Law and ������Ƭisation, Southampton Law School. The seminar took place on 7 February 2025. This year’s theme was Ex Situ Conversation Measures: Between Wild Animal Exploitation & Welfare.

Professor Werner Scholtz, Head of Southampton Law School, convened the event. Reflecting on the seminar, Professor Scholtz commented, “Participants from the ������Ƭ South and ������Ƭ North engaged in timely discussions about ex-situ conservation measures and wild animal welfare in the context of the loss of biological diversity.”

The papers delivered included:

• Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes (University of Oxford) - Wild animal values and global conservation governance: An evolutionary perspective
• Veerle Platvoet (University of Helsinki) - Ex situ conservation and Animal Agency
• Rajat Banerjee (Alliance School of Law, India) - Revisiting the effectiveness of the Public Trust Doctrine in both in situ and ex situ conservation of wild animals: A theoretical treatise
• Johanna Hjalmarsson (Southampton Law School) - The case for a legal framework protecting whales from shipping
• Kshitij Naikade (Symbiosis Law School, India) - Sustainable Utilization of Wildlife (SUW): Need of the hour to understand this grey area under CITES for a sustainable future
• Dulki Seethawaka and Jayani Christina (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka) - A fallacy or reality: a legal analysis of the ex situ conservation measures in Sri Lanka
• Celine Doak, South Africa Ostrich Farming - a critical analysis of South Africa’s flightless animal welfare and well-being legislation
• Himangshu Kalita (National Law University, India) - From the wild to captivity: welfare and ethical challenges of Namibia’s elephant exports under CITES
• Neil D’Cruze (Wildlife researcher, South Africa) - Lion farming in South Africa and the illegal international bone trade