Based on a legal history of international biodiversity treaties from the late nineteenth century to the present, Rachelle Adam argues that todayÕs biodiversity crisis is rooted in European colonial history, especially in the conservation treaties that the colonial powers (and their non-governmental counterparts) negotiated to protect AfricaÕs big-game animals. Reflecting on the colonial pastÑparticularly on efforts to manage the commerce in elephant ivoryÑAdam sheds light on why more recent attempts to arrest the decline in biodiversity by way of international agreement have failed. This volume will spur a rethinking of such agreements and trigger a search for alternatives outside of existing international structures.