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Running Head: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 1

Environmental Health Law

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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 2

Environmental Health Law

Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 by the Congress. It states that

threatened and endangered wildlife are of ecological, historical, esthetic, scientific, and

recreational value to the people and the entire nation. According to Eubanks II (2015), the

purpose of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is to protect and recover imperiled animal and

plant species, as well as ecosystem upon which they depend. Over the years, the ESA has

managed to improve the health of human beings by increasing the number of endangered animals

and rare plants. For instance, according to Waples et al. (2013), from 1974 to 2012, more than 56

species had been delisted from the list of endangered species. The delisted species consisted of

28 species due to recovery and 10 species due to extinction. At the same time, 25 other species

had been down listed from the category of “endangered” to “threatened” which is an astonishing

success rate.

The act to protect endangered species has been beneficial to people since it has

influenced the management of a healthy natural system, which now provides healthier and clean

water. In addition, as reiterated by Alfano (2013), the ESA act attributes to an improvement in

foods, medicines, and other products that human beings require in order to survive and live a

healthy life. It is important to note that the current generation is grateful of the past generation,

who made sure that current environment is at a safe situation. Wolf et al. (2015) further support

this point by mentioning that the current generation depends on children and grandchildren of the

future generation to be good stewards of protecting the environment.

Reason for the Endangered Species Act

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According to Langpap & Kerkvliet (2010), the main reason for the existence of the ESA

is biodiversity. That is, protecting endangered species helps with the balance of biodiversity,

whereby without the balance, then human beings, animals, and plant would not be in a healthy

state as it is right now. Biodiversity is defined as the assemblage of animals and plants in a

setting, and it consists of both genetic and ecological diversity (Eubanks II, 2015). In order for

the species to have a healthy environment, then it is important for both genetic and ecological

diversity to have balance, thus the need to have all the animals, endangered or not, in existence

(Bruskotter et al., 2014).

Every living species rely on the biodiversity balance. For instance, it is impossible to

carry out biological researches without a seamlessly balance biodiversity. Ecologists rely heavily

on the capability to study specific ecosystems where they have the opportunity to understand

general characteristics of different ecosystems (Waples et al., 2013). However, the ecologists

find it difficult to study and research the ecosystems if the biodiversity has been reduced by

human activities.

Studies by (Eubanks II, 2015) note that destruction of the biodiversity usually results in

human beings missing on important aspects and benefits of the biodiversity. An example

includes the lack of certain foods and diets, most of which have been lost from the biodiversity

degradation. As noted by Wolf et al. (2015), before the 1973 Endangered Species Act, only 10

percent of plants accounted for 80 percent of crops edible by human beings. However, over the

years, this number has increased to 22 percent of plants now accounting for the 80 percent crops

edible to human (Alfano, 2013). Moreover, people living in the Amazon Basin had been facing

an uphill task of losing rare plants, which were mainly over harvested by pharmaceutical

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 4

companies for medicinal purposes. However, this trend has changed over the years to an extent

that endangered plant species are now protected (Langpap & Kerkvliet, 2010).

According to Bruskotter et al. (2014), one reason that prompted the enactment of the

Endangered Species Act is the need to preserve the extinction issues experienced in developing

countries. Endangering animals in developing countries was seen as preventing these nations

from accessing biological wealth that would result in bettering their lives (Waples et al., 2013).

At the same, this was construed as neocolonialism since most forests and animals from third

world countries were cleared due to increased demand from developed countries. Nevertheless,

such cases have been minimized since the enactment of the Endangered Species Act.

Benefits of ESA on Biological Diversity

Conferring to Wolf et al. (2015), the world has witnessed a number of benefits and an

overall improvement in environmental health. An example is the enrichment of the biodiversity

whereby the society is witnessing an increased biological productivity. Biologists note that there

is a better and an enhanced causal relationship within the ecosystem (Waples et al., 2013). The

reason for this is attributed to the fact that extinction is only likely to occur in cases of

specialized species. Studies further indicate that most ecosystems are more stable in terms of

their homeostasis, which has resulted in making the existence of human beings less precarious

(Eubanks II, 2015).

ESA has helped with the improvement and conservation of the environment through

ecotourism. As conferred by Waples et al. (2013), economic and social aspects linked to

biological diversity has improved since the act was enacted. The ecotourism advantages are

particularly visible in developing nations, which otherwise would not have been successful

without the ecotourism system (Eubanks II, 2015). An example is the case of exploitation of

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 5

renewable natural resources in tropical rain forests, and may have been beneficial compared to a

more intensive land uses.

The Endangered Species Act has also been a great aspect when it comes to agricultural

benefits (Langpap & Kerkvliet, 2010). Without the act, most agricultural crops would not have

been successful as it is today, mainly because a proportion of world’s plants have been cultivated

for food. In addition, some of the endangered plants are of importance to the crops that human

beings cultivate (Wolf et al., 2015). According to Bruskotter et al. (2014), most of the food crops

are associated with tropical origins. Therefore, it is natural for human beings to consider tropical

forests when it comes to environmental preservation. The tropical plants are also sources for

most commercial species, and so continual breeding is important. As expected, preservation of

the species has yielded enough agricultural benefits over the years. This has yielded nutritional

quality, adaptive-ness, and resistance to pests and diseases (Eubanks II, 2015).

Medicinal value is another benefit associated with the Endangered Species Act whereby,

according to Alfano (2013), at least 25 percent of all prescribed drugs in US contain active

principles from some of the endangered plant species. An example is penicillin. It is important

that wild and undiscovered plants have been in discovering new medicines, most of which have

been helpful in treating rare ailments (Langpap & Kerkvliet, 2010). The same thing applies for

endangered animals, some of which are essential sources for medicinal drugs. Other than

lawfully protecting them by the ESA act, some of the rare plants have developed mechanisms

that protect themselves from being eaten by animals, or destroyed by human activities.

Bruskotter et al. (2014) note that human beings have become more concerned about preserving

these rare plants since they are beneficial in the end.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 6

According to Alfano (2013), the Endangered Species Act has been used in indicating

quality of the environment. Since they are rare, most endangered species act as a miner’s canary

whereby the society gets to determine if there is something wrong with the ecosystem. For

instance, in the United States, rapid decline of peregrine falcons and bald eagles was an

indication that something was not right with the environment (Langpap & Kerkvliet, 2010). For

that reason, hunting such species was limited by the government and measures were taken to

ensure the species increased in numbers. Therefore, as illustrated by Waples et al. (2013),

without the endangered species along with applicable environmental controls, the society may

not have noticed a lack of balance in the biological diversity.

The most important beneficial aspect with ESA is the conservation of biological diversity

through services we receive free whenever the ecosystems function at a normal level (Eubanks

II, 2015). Some of these functions include chemical cycling, soil generation, energy fixation,

flood protection, and water purification. As reiterated by Bruskotter et al. (2014), this has

reduced the cost of maintaining and regenerating endangered species. That is, whenever humans

disrupt the natural function of the ecosystems, then it means that the free services are lost, and

that money will be spent in recovering them. A perfect example is the amount spent by the

government in recovering the Everglades of Florida (Alfano, 2013). The government had to

spend millions of dollar in fixing issues such as decline in fish, floods, and lack of clean water.

Conclusion

As per (Langpap & Kerkvliet, 2010), when one species is endangered, then the niche that

used to be occupied usually disappears with it. At the same time, other species correlated with it

might as well disappear. For that reason, it is the responsibility of humans to care for the species,

thus the enactment of the ESA act, which has so far been successful in reducing the number of

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH LAW 7

species facing endangerment. In the process, this has managed to balance the biological diversity

(Wolf et al., 2015). Without efforts to preserve and protect endangered species, more animals

and plants would become extinct.

References

Alfano, J. (2013). Gaps in the Endangered Species Act: The Plight of the Florida Panther. Boston

College Environmental Affairs Law Review, 40(1), 335-348.

Bruskotter, J. T., Vucetich, J. A., Enzler, S., Treves, A., & Nelson, M. P. (2014). Removing

Protections for Wolves and the Future of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (1973).

Conservation Letters, 7(4), 401-407. doi:10.1111/conl.12081

Eubanks II, W. S. (2015). Subverting Congress' Intent: The Recent Misapplication Of Section 10

Of The Endangered Species Act And Its Consequent Impacts On Sensitive Wildlife And

Habitat. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, 42(2), 259-303.

Langpap, C., & Kerkvliet, J. (2010). Allocating Conservation Resources Under The Endangered

Species Act. American Journal Of Agricultural Economics, 92(1), 110-124.

doi:10.1093/ajae/aap001

Waples, R. S., Nammack, M., Cochrane, J. F., & Hutchings, J. A. (2013). A Tale of Two Acts:

Endangered Species Listing Practices in Canada and the United States. Bioscience, 63(9),

723-734. doi:10.1525/bio.2013.63.9.8

Wolf, S., Hartl, B., Carroll, C., Neel, M. C., & Greenwald, D. N. (2015). Beyond PVA: Why

Recovery under the Endangered Species Act Is More than Population Viability.

Bioscience, 65(2), 200-207.

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