This study set out to do two things. For one, it sought to gain a better understanding of the existing international legal framework for large carnivore conservation in southern Africa. Secondly, it aimed to study policy instrument selection in the multi-layered context of large carnivore conservation. The central question that guided the analysis was condensed as follows: what policy instruments make up the international legal framework for the conservation of large carnivores in southern Africa, what are their implications, and how are such policy instruments implemented?

In this final part, I pull together the different threads of inquiry that were spun in search of answers to this question and provide some ideas on how to take this research forwards.

Having described and analysed the policy instruments that make up the international legal framework for the conservation of large carnivores, and having delved into the implications of said legal framework, it is now time to shift perspective. In this part, I explore two examples of how the international legal framework for large carnivore conservation is operationalised and implemented. These are purely illustrations of the different ways of implementing international legal obligations. My aim here is to explore how policy instruments that were developed on the international level are translated (if at all) on the international and national levels. I address the final research question, specifically: How are the policy instruments that shape the international legal framework for the conservation of large carnivores in southern Africa implemented?

As wild areas ranging from tropical rain forests and wetlands to deserts and grasslands are being devastated, the world's wildlife has also plunged into an increasingly alarming downward spiral. The 2020 Global Living Planet Index showed an average decline of 68% in monitored populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish in the period from 1970 to 2016. Some say that the sixth mass extinction is already underway. But as opposed to previous mass extinction events, this extinction has a distinctly human face.

In an attempt to stem the ongoing devastation that is being wreaked on global wildlife populations, the international community has made considerable efforts to establish a protective legal framework. International wildlife law has expanded at pace. Although international environmental law and its subset of international wildlife law are quite young, the number of environmental treaties has mushroomed in the past few decades.

Before plunging into the heart of this study, I briefly pause to explore the particular considerations that are raised by the specific and multi-layered nature of international wildlife law, and how these considerations may affect international policy instrument selection.

In order to provide a solid starting point for the substantive legal parts, this study then goes on to identify and map the different types of policy instruments that are currently available in international wildlife law, and examines how those instruments generally operate. The aim of this mapping exercise is to catalogue the instruments that are employed in wildlife-related treaties into a working typology, and thus provide a comprehensive overview of the existing toolbox of policy instruments.

Since the baseline for the case studies is the international legal framework that applies to large carnivore conservation in southern Africa, it is important to first draw this baseline firmly. To do so, in this part, I concisely describe the legal framework and identify the policy instruments contained therein. Firstly, the multilateral treaties whose scope extends to large carnivore conservation in southern Africa are identified and the instruments they contain are outlined. I then go on to do the same for the treaties concerning transfrontier conservation areas in the region. This will serve as a basis to analyse in the case studies how and to what extent these instruments get picked up in implementation.

In chapter II, I identify the international and (sub)regional treaties that are directly relevant to large carnivore conservation and management in southern Africa, as well as the policy instruments used in those treaties. When analysing these different treaties, I pay particular attention to (i) their objectives, (ii) the policy instruments used to achieve those objectives, and (iii) the mechanisms for monitoring implementation.

1. Aim of the chapter – After substantiating why this book chooses to analyse the possibility for mandatory home state regulation from the perspective of nondirectly affected states’ and international organisations’ aggravated responsibility regime (see supra Chapter 4, s 3.5.2.), the next question to be tackled is how this aggravated responsibility regime is shaped de lege lata and how it may serve as a legal basis for mandatory home state regulation of potentially harmful business activities in or pertaining to situations created or maintained in serious breach of jus cogens.

1. Aim of the chapter – After having substantiated that there are persuasive arguments to be advanced in support of a positive component attached to the traditionally negatively conceptualised duty of non-assistance requiring home states and competent international organisations to regulate business activities of their corporate nationals potentially rendering aid or assistance to the maintaining of situations created in serious breach of jus cogens (see supra Chapters 5 and 6), as well as having uncovered the core characteristics and particularities of the due diligence notion under international law – in particular in relation to the regulation of potentially harmful transnational conduct originating from private (corporate) actors (see supra Chapter 7) – this final chapter aims to bring all the separate building blocks uncovered in the previous chapters together to formulate a concrete answer to this book's central research question. More specifically, this chapter will test whether potentially harmful business activities in or pertaining to illegally occupied territories (as defined supra in Chapter 2) – which constitute situations created in serious breach of jus cogens (see supra Chapter 1) – can be challenged through the duty of non-assistance (see supra Chapter 5) incumbent upon these businesses’ state of nationality (home state) (see supra Chapters 3 and 4) by imposing on the latter a positive due diligence obligation to ensure that their private (corporate) nationals do not render aid or assistance to the maintaining of situations created in serious breach of jus cogens (see supra Chapters 6 and 7).

1. Aim of the chapter – In the previous chapter, we have demonstrated that – based on burgeoning subsequent practice, as well as the application of the traditional interpretation techniques to the duty of non-assistance – there are reasonable grounds to substantiate that the duty of non-assistance, besides its negative conceptualisation, also contains a positive component requiring states and competent international organisations to ensure that their (corporate) nationals do not render aid or assistance to the maintaining of situations established in serious breach of jus cogens. Building on this finding, this chapter now turns to the question of how such a positive component must be given concrete content.

The relationship between party autonomy and market regulation has been analysed extensively for consumer law and regulated industries. It seems to be a common understanding that European contract law in this area is predominantly characterised by a regulatory approach and consequently contains a regulated construction of party autonomy.1 In his chapter, Stefan Grundmann traces this relationship between party autonomy and regulation conceptually and he does so in a historically thoughtful and ambitious manner.2 He identifies three core regulatory phases, which are black-, red-, and green-box regulation, which, in other publications, he saw equally occurring in European company law.3 The black box refers to regulation to foster the functioning of the internal market, the red box to that for the internal empowerment of actors, and the green box to that for the pursuit of broader societal goals, such as sustainability.

European contract law has now followed a trajectory of 40 years at least, assuming its true beginnings are to be traced back to the directives of the mid-1980s, perhaps the most powerful being the Consumer Credit Directive (1985). One could see it as being even longer, for instance including Dassonville (1974) and Cassis de Dijon (1979) too, or shorter, but certainly and powerfully beginning in the 1990s at the latest, with the Unfair Contract Terms and the (Consumer) Sales Directives (1993/1999). Over this period, up until the present day, it has solidified as a reality impacting significantly on the legal systems of the Member States, profoundly transforming them. Some of contract law's provisions, starting with the 1993 Directive on Unfair Contract Terms, can undoubtedly be considered the frontier of the most significant change in private law since World War II.

Consumer transactions are ubiquitous and highly varied. They encompass everyday transactions, like buying groceries or supplies from Amazon.com, occasional commitments such as fitness club memberships and dating app subscriptions, and sporadic, substantial ones like purchasing a car.

As consumers move their lives online, they navigate numerous websites, often agreeing to Terms of Use, Privacy Policies, and Cookie Notices. Regardless of their frequency or magnitude, these transactions share one thing in common: an asymmetry between sellers, or content providers, and consumers.

This asymmetry is concerning, as sellers, equipped with superior information, sophistication, and experience, may engage in exploitation, especially online. Sellers can monitor consumers’ online activities and design their websites in ways that take advantage of this information. This can lead to consumers unknowingly paying hidden fees, signing up for unwanted services, or buying less valuable products. Unfortunately, some websites are designed to confuse or tempt consumers instead of helping them to understand these complexities. The details of most of these transactions are often buried in the fine print, making them hard for consumers to find and understand.