Webpage advert: http://tinyurl.com/20090120-christy-wildlifetrade

FACULTY OF LAW
Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law

International Wildlife Trade and the Pacific Rim: Law and Reality
By Mr Bryan Christy

20 JANUARY 2009, TUESDAY, 2.00PM
@ the LEE SHERIDAN CONFERENCE ROOM, EU TONG SEN BUILDING

ABOUT THE SPEAKER*

Bryan Christy is a lawyer, author, and Fulbright Scholar. He was educated
at Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University Graduate School, Tokyo
University Law School, and the University of Michigan Law School. As a
lawyer he specialized in international trade and investment and his writings
on these topics have been used in law school curricula in the United
States. He has worked as a lawyer on topics including U.S.-Japan
supercomputer trade, Norwegian whaling, and the sale of light water nuclear
reactors to North Korea. A former certified public accountant as well as a
lawyer, he has worked in the Executive Office of the U.S. President (Office
of the U.S. Trade Representative) and is today a freelance writer for
National Geographic.

He is the author of a new book, The Lizard King: The True Crimes and
Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers, which tells the true
story of America's biggest reptile smuggler, Mike Van Nostrand, and the
federal agent who risks his career to stop him. Van Nostrand's company,
Strictly Reptiles of Hollywood, Florida, is the world's largest reptile
import-export company, selling hundreds of thousands of snakes, lizards,
frogs, turtles, scorpions etc to zoos and pet stores each year.

*
ABSTRACT*Illegal trade in critically endangered and protected species
threatens their viability around the world. In the United States and East
Asia this trade has been treated largely as an environmental issue, and not
a criminal issue. As a result, penalties are insufficient to deter wildlife
traffickers, and national budgets to finance and manage anti-trafficking
efforts are inadequate. What is needed is a new legal framework for
addressing wildlife crime, one that places less emphasis on 'environment'
and more emphasis on 'crime.'

This Seminar examines some major wildlife smuggling cases, drawing from the
history of one of the world's most unusual laws, the American Lacey Act, and
adding in modern concepts of organized crime and how to combat it. It
suggests a new paradigm, in which the word "wildlife" is removed from the
issue of wildlife trade, and the word "criminal" is added.


*REGISTRATION*
If you wish to attend this seminar, please email to *
lawmaksy@...* <lawmaksy@...>. There is no registration fee for
this seminar but seats are limited. All are welcome.

For enquiries, please
contact Ms Shirley Mak at Tel: 6516 6246. Directions to the NUS Law School
may be found at
http://law.nus.edu.sg/faculty/Location.htm