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Government Legislation and Regulation in the United States
Citation:
Saterson, K. AND T. Cors. Government Legislation and Regulation in the United States. Edition 3rd, Samuel M. Scheiner (ed.), Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. ELSEVIER, AMSTERDAM, Holland, 3:167-179, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822562-2.00008-6
Impact/Purpose:
Biological diversity at genetic, species and ecosystem levels is influenced by legislation and regulation that are initiated and enforced at local, national, and international scales.
Description:
Although many laws governing human activities have indirect impacts on biodiversity, this article summarizes the major laws and regulations that directly target biodiversity protection by influencing how genes, species, habitats and ecosystems are used and conserved. While the legal measures taken by many nations have impacts on local to global biodiversity, for brevity this article focuses primarily on US laws. US regulation of biodiversity over the last 100 years has evolved from a primary focus on single species to more recently including habitats, ecosystems, and ecoregional landscapes. The evolution in regulation responds in part to changes in the threats to biodiversity, from over-exploitation of single species to ecosystem alterations.
