Discussions in this report address bear farming in China, Hong Kong's gall bladder registration scheme, biological implications of the legal trade in bear gall bladder in Japan and Taiwan's efforts to monitor its domestic market for bear gall bladder. Recommendations are given to better understand, monitor and control the trade.
<p>In the mid-1980s, the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, in consultation with leading experts from around the world, began to respond to a need later identified by Agenda 21 : the preparation of an integrated framework for international environmental law.
Biodiversity captured worldwide attention at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro when 150 nations signed the Convention on Biological Diversity. Although most countries by now have had some experience planning and implementing biodiversity-related measures, few have approached them in the comprehensive, integrated manner required by the Convention.