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Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade

Identification

Public canonical key
doi:10.3390/h6040084
Authors
Melanie Jean Murcott
Reported year
2017
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of Pretoria

Documentary abstract — original language

South Africa’s rhino population is under threat of extinction due to poaching for purposes of illegal international trade of rhino horn. The South African government has thus far been unable to regulate rhino poaching effectively. One of the legal responses was to introduce a moratorium on local trade of rhino horn. However, in 2015 the High Court set aside the moratorium. Subsequent appeals against the High Court’s decision to the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court were dismissed without a hearing. The anthropocentric approach to the protection of biodiversity under South African environmental law is reflected upon in this article. It is argued that the High Court adopted an unapologetic and uncritical anthropocentric approach to the issues before it. A legal theory of transformative environmental constitutionalism is proposed as a means to infuse litigation about global environmental problems with substantive environmental considerations, such as precaution, prevention and equity. These principles could facilitate a more ecocentric orientation towards the application of environmental laws.

Identifiers

OPENALEX
W2767719415
DOI
10.3390/h6040084

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article
Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources
ZA

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary field provenance

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Authors
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Document type
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Jurisdiction
Studied subject derived from explicit documentary context
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ISBN
Not recorded
Official identifier
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Not recorded
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Cite this reference

Melanie Jean Murcott. Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/h6040084

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APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.

APA
Melanie Jean Murcott. (2017). Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade. https://doi.org/10.3390/h6040084
Chicago
Melanie Jean Murcott. Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/h6040084
ISO 690
Melanie Jean Murcott. Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade. 2017. https://doi.org/10.3390/h6040084

UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. Transformative Environmental Constitutionalism’s Response to the Setting Aside of South Africa’s Moratorium on Rhino Horn Trade. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-8917c5d2099cffa5e1954a0905221a59/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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Field provenance and record version

Version 76bcb57313d44cab · udtr-reference-1.1.2

Title
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Authors
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Year
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Identifiers
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Source URL
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00
Source-reported author ORCID
OpenAlex · source · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00

History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.

3840cf6e646c0684 · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00

65dbe929832ab9eb · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00

478b14ceb78bdd3e · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00

76bcb57313d44cab · 2026-11-09T19:15:44.514083+00:00

Frozen-version metadata

Research dossiers and documentary relations

ZA ·

University of Pretoria

Melanie Jean Murcott

Source roles

Discovery source · https://doi.org/10.3390/h6040084

Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W2767719415

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Documentary status

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