The law under study in this paper is the Endangered Species Act (ESA) whose role is to ensure that endangered species are brought back from the brink of extinction. The ESA was created in 1973 under Richard Nixon’s administration (Digest, n.d). Notably, the ruling has gone on to experience significant improvements and despite its economic impact being major, its ability to deliver as required is only modest. The ESA is tasked with ensuring that proper strategies are set to provide that endangered species are conserved and protected from extinction has proved to be quite essential in its roles. Admittedly, the first major provision of the ESA is to authorize the determination as to which species are threatened and endangered (Digest, n.d). ESA prohibits the transport, sale, possession, and taking of endangered species if not authorized. Similarly, land can be acquired using the water and land conversation funds for the purposes of conserving species that are listed. ESA, also, ensures that grants-in-aid, as well as cooperative agreements, are given and administered to states that have enough proactive programs to protect endangered species (Digest, n.d). The Act provides authority to assess criminal and civil penalties whenever its regulations and the Act are violated. Finally, ESA is allowed to provide and ensure that anyone who provides information that can lead to the arrest and conviction of someone who violates the Act is rewarded. Since the introduction of the law, there have been notable economic impacts that go towards facilitating its implementation. If anything, the Act works on the rationale that protecting endangered species has economic benefits. For instance, Defenders of Wildlife (n.d) reveal that the protection of wolves in Yellowstone National Park nets in about $35 million in revenues from tourists. In addition, double the amount sifts through the local economy in the area (Defenders of Wildlife, n.d). Noticeably, the conservation efforts, also, have more economic benefits than losses through recreation that is wildlife related. This is seen where 860,000 jobs in the private sector are created by watching wildlife (Defenders of Wildlife, n.d). However, these economic benefits are only realized through the implementation of structures that ensure that funds are saved and not lost through proper decision-making. An example is when the National Marine Fisheries Service excluded 2758 miles of streams when seeking to protect nineteen species of salmon and steelhead (Defenders of Wildlife, n.d). Admittedly, the act saved the Northwest economy $243.6 million and that of California, $100.5 million (Defenders of Wildlife, n.d). Therefore, the economic benefits outweigh the loss as far as ESA is concerned. Regarding the effectiveness of the law to improve the status of endangered species, it is essential to look into its effectiveness. For one, Gibbs & Currie (2012) suggest that the impact of absolute funding and funding in proportion to endangered species proves that the ESA Act has only had modest effects when delivering its role. Notably, proportional funding had a larger effect than absolute funding when taking into account the effectiveness of ESA. However, Gibbs & Currie (2012) complain that there was limited strong evidence to perform their research and in the end, they suggest that ESA should not wait until the situation of an endangered species is critical before enlisting it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ESA is a crucial Act that was introduced to protect endangered species and conserve them to prevent extinction. Admittedly, the economic benefits of the implementation of ESA outweigh the losses as seen through the creation of 860,000 jobs in the private sector. In the end, the law has had modest effects in delivering its role and it is necessary to provide more research for development.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
Defenders of Wildlife (n.d). Economic benefits of the ESA . Retrieved from defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/economic-benefits-of-the-endangered-species-act.pdf
Digest (n.d). Endangered Species Act of 1973 . Retrieved from www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/esact.html
EPA (n.d). Summary of the Endangered Species Act. Retrieved from www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered-species-act
Gibbs, K. E. & Currie, D. J. (2012). Protecting endangered species: do the main legislative tools work? PLOS. Retrieved from journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0035730
