Conservation Covenants and Easements: A Local Instrument Supporting Global Biodiversity Goals
This book analyzes conservation covenants and easements across seven countries, exploring how private land conservation supports global biodiversity goals. Through legal and policy comparisons, it examines landholder participation, ecosystem restoration, climate adaptation, compliance, and opportunities to strengthen conservation outcomes through law reform.
Subject Tags
- Land management
- Ecosystem management
- Habitat restoration
Summary
Conservation covenants and easements are legal mechanisms for private landholders to contribute to long-term protection of natural values. This book furnishes a unique international legal and policy study of how covenants and easements in seven jurisdictions are supporting global biodiversity goals, and it considers how they may address new challenges associated with ecosystem restoration and climate change. It compares laws in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States, countries where these mechanisms are increasingly used to support national and global goals of relevance to Earth System Governance. Through interjurisdictional comparison, the book analyses key themes, including recruitment and retention of landholders into conservation agreements, climate adaptation and compliance. This study also offers practical advice on potential directions for law reform or improved implementation of existing covenants and easements law. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Citation
1. Richardson BJ, Bilton D, Akhtar-Khavari A, Brugler S, Fitzsimons JA, McCormack PC. Conservation Covenants and Easements: A Local Instrument Supporting Global Biodiversity Goals. Cambridge University Press; 2026.
TNC Authors
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James A. Fitzsimons
Senior Advisor, Global Protection Strategies. Protect Oceans, Lands and Waters
The Nature Conservancy
Email: jfitzsimons@tnc.org