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Centre for International Law and Globalisation 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 Globalisation, 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 Global South and Global 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