Reservations in International Agreements

What is a Reservation in international environmental treaties?

A reservation in environmental law is basically when a nation agrees to a treaty or convention, but disagrees with one or more part of it. In the interest of encouraging participation, the treaty allows this nation to file a reservation against that specific item. This means that the nation does not have to abide by that item, but remains a member of the treaty. An example of this is Japan's reservation against Dolphins under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Japan is still a member of CITES, but does not have to abide by the regulations protecting Dolphins from hunting and trade. This is important to environmental law because reservations severely weaken the enforcement and sometimes success of treaties, but encourage nations to be part of the treaty and discussion even if they disagree with part of it.