Developing a theory of change for a community-based response to illegal wildlife trade

Illegal bushmeat hunting is a major driver of wildlife population declines in Northern Botswana. Such declines raise concerns about the principles and integrity of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and regional economic stability which is heavily reliant on wildlife-based tourism. The KAZA landscape between Northern Botswana's protected areas consists of non-state land utilized communally by small agropastoralist communities. These communities are economically challenged by international beef trade policies, restricted access to grazing in nearby wildlife management areas and high conflict costs from living in close proximity to wildlife; some of the key factors identified as drivers of bushmeat hunting in the region. Here we describe how a model called Herding for Health (H4H) could address these drivers. We discuss strategies using a socio-economic centered Theory of Change (ToC) model to identify the role agropastoral communities can have in addressing illegal wildlife trade (IWT). The ToC conceptual framework was developed with input from a resource team consisting of scientific and implementation experts in H4H, wildlife conservation, illegal wildlife trade and livelihood development between September and December 2018, and with a validation workshop in March 2019 with government representatives from relevant ministries, NGO's, community-based organizations and private sector participants. We identify three pathways deriving from the ToC driven by community level actions to address IWT in the region. These include: increasing institutions for local enforcement, developing incentives for ecosystem stewardship and decreasing the costs of living alongside wildlife. The success of these pathways depends on underlying enabling actions: support for the development of institutional frameworks; building community capacity to facilitate informed best farming practices; and strengthening commitments to sustainable resource management to increase resilience to climatic and economic shocks.

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Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade—What Works and How Is It Measured?

Frontiers in Conservation Science ◽

10.3389/fcosc.2021.765725 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Olivia Wilson-Holt ◽

Dilys Roe

Keyword(s):

Law Enforcement ◽

Learning Activities ◽

Wildlife Trade ◽

Community Based ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽

Learning Platform ◽

What Works ◽

Global Issue ◽

Source Countries

The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a global issue that threatens the conservation of many species of fauna and flora and affects the livelihoods of people who are dependent upon wildlife. By far the most common approach to tackling IWT is to enhance law enforcement, including arming rangers and tougher penalties for perpetrators. Yet, critics of this approach argue that efforts to reduce IWT in source countries are likely to fail without the involvement of local people. However, little is known about the effectiveness of community-based approaches to tackling IWT or how this is being measured. We used information from the www.peoplenotpoaching.org learning platform to analyze over 100 case studies of community-based anti-IWT interventions to understand what proportion have been effective and how this has been measured. We present a typology of frequently reported outcomes, their indicators and means of verification. We show that effectiveness in community-based anti-IWT interventions is measured by a number of indicators and using a variety of verification means. Our findings suggest that conservation practitioners more frequently implement activities to measure conservation outcomes in comparison to livelihood outcomes, which has implications for how we consider if a community-based anti-IWT project has been effective. We recommend that future community-based anti-IWT projects build in more robust monitoring, evaluation and learning activities to measure how livelihood benefits impact local communities given their support is crucial to achieving long-term conservation success.

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Advancing Applied Research in Conservation Criminology Through the Evaluation of Corruption Prevention, Enhancing Compliance, and Reducing Recidivism

Frontiers in Conservation Science ◽

10.3389/fcosc.2021.698755 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Jessica S. Kahler ◽

Joseph W. Rivera ◽

Zachary T. Steele ◽

Pilar Morales-Giner ◽

Christian J. Rivera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Community Forestry ◽

Forest Products ◽

Alternative Methods ◽

Wildlife Trade ◽

Green Criminology ◽

Community Based ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽

Taxonomic Groups ◽

Corruption Prevention

Concomitant with an increase in the global illegal wildlife trade has been a substantial increase in research within traditional conservation-based sciences and conservation and green criminology. While the integration of criminological theories and methods into the wildlife conservation context has advanced our understanding of and practical responses to illegal wildlife trade, there remain discrepancies between the number of empirical vs. conceptual studies and a disproportionate focus on a few select theories, geographical contexts, and taxonomic groups. We present three understudied or novel applications of criminology and criminal justice research within the fields of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife conservation. First, we highlight criminological research on the application of corruption prevention in combating the illegal wildlife trade. Corruption has increasingly been getting attention from the non-governmental sector; however, there has been limited research aimed at understanding institutional opportunity structures, local conceptualizations of corruption, and the corresponding prevention strategies within conservation contexts. Second, we discuss the pre-emptive application of compliance theories when designing and monitoring Community-Based Conservation (CBC) programs such as community forestry, non-timber forest products, and community patrol programs. Applying opportunity theory and social development strategies are two suggestions to improve the effectiveness of CBCs in forestry and beyond. Finally, we present a discussion on recidivism (i.e., repeat offending) and non-instrumental or novel responses, utilizing illegal fishing as a case study. We present two alternative methods to traditional forms of punishment: restorative justice and community-based approaches. Lastly, we will present a diversity of priority research agendas within each of these topics.

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Exploring community beliefs to reduce illegal wildlife trade using a theory of change approach

Pangolins ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-815507-3.00024-1 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 385-393

Author(s):

Diane Skinner ◽

Holly Dublin ◽

Leo Niskanen ◽

Dilys Roe ◽

Akshay Vishwanath

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Change ◽

Wildlife Trade ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade

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Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade And Transportation In Palawan

10.15405/epsbs.2019.10.16 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Richard B. Balucio

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Trade ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade

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Tools and Resources to Combat Illegal Wildlife Trade

10.1596/29542 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Trade ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade

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Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa (Griffith, 1821) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in illegal wildlife trade in Nepal

Journal of Threatened Taxa ◽

10.11609/jott.6504.12.16.17229-17234 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (16) ◽

pp. 17229-17234

Author(s):

Yadav Ghimirey ◽

Raju Acharya

Keyword(s):

Wildlife Trade ◽

Illegal Trade ◽

Body Parts ◽

Clouded Leopard ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽

Neofelis Nebulosa

We document trade of the Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa in Nepal based on pelt seizure reports published in wildlife trade reports and in newspapers. Just 27 cases in three decades seem little to suggest targeted illegal trade of the species, the seizure information in recent years indicate that illegal trade of Clouded Leopard body parts is still taking place. Hence an in-depth assessment is necessary to understand properly the intensity and magnitude of illegal trade on Clouded Leopard in the country.

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Anthropomorphic Strategies Promote Wildlife Conservation through Empathy: The Moderation Role of the Public Epidemic Situation

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073565 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3565

Author(s):

Dan Yue ◽

Zepeng Tong ◽

Jianchi Tian ◽

Yang Li ◽

Linxiu Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Behavioral Intention ◽

Wildlife Conservation ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Wildlife Trade ◽

Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽

The Impact

The global illegal wildlife trade directly threatens biodiversity and leads to disease outbreaks and epidemics. In order to avoid the loss of endangered species and ensure public health security, it is necessary to intervene in illegal wildlife trade and promote public awareness of the need for wildlife conservation. Anthropomorphism is a basic and common psychological process in humans that plays a crucial role in determining how a person interacts with other non-human agents. Previous research indicates that anthropomorphizing nature entities through metaphors could increase individual behavioral intention of wildlife conservation. However, relatively little is known about the mechanism by which anthropomorphism influences behavioral intention and whether social context affects the effect of anthropomorphism. This research investigated the impact of negative emotions associated with a pandemic situation on the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies for wildlife conservation across two experimental studies. Experiment 1 recruited 245 college students online and asked them to read a combination of texts and pictures as anthropomorphic materials. The results indicated that anthropomorphic materials could increase participants’ empathy and decrease their wildlife product consumption intention. Experiment 2 recruited 140 college students online and they were required to read the same materials as experiment 1 after watching a video related to epidemics. The results showed that the effect of wildlife anthropomorphization vanished if participants’ negative emotion was aroused by the video. The present research provides experimental evidence that anthropomorphic strategies would be useful for boosting public support for wildlife conservation. However, policymakers and conservation organizations must be careful about the negative effects of the pandemic context, as the negative emotions produced by it seems to weaken the effectiveness of anthropomorphic strategies.

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