scholarly journals Contesting moralities: the politics of wildlife trade in Laos

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarinda Singh

This article examines the intricacy within stylized debates that surround conservation and the regulation of wildlife trade in Southeast Asia. Illegal and unregulated trade in wildlife has been characterized by conservation groups as a great risk for wildlife worldwide and the prime threat for remaining wildlife populations in Laos. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the centrepoint of the global discourse on wildlife trade. Popular representations of wildlife trade promoted by conservation organizations construct an image of regulation through CITES as a global necessity. The assumed morality of such interventions can provoke counter accusations about the immorality of impositions by Western conservationists. Yet both of these competing representations of wildlife trade regulation encourage externally-focused moralized debates that obscure the internal dynamics within global conservation, national policy formation and local practice.  Recognition of the simplifications that characterize these three domains cautions against any idealized contrast between global hegemony and local resistance in critical studies of conservation. Instead, the focus becomes the contestation that is often hidden within such dichotomies. Keywords: Conservation, wildlife, Lao PDR, CITES 

Author(s):  
Vicky Johnson ◽  
◽  
Kelly Shephard ◽  
Andy West ◽  
◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 147490412096757
Author(s):  
Mariana Gaio Alves ◽  
Michael Tomlinson

This article examines how the value of higher education (HE) is currently being (re)framed in two European countries: England and Portugal. HE has been central to a global discourse on the future of knowledge economy, whilst also being subject to the policy framework of New Public Management. Being so, the changing value of HE is related to the ways in which its missions are understood and must be considered within the context of massification, as well as of a growing importance of employability. Drawing on published research and also considering national policy documents and statistical data produced by international organizations, the analysis demonstrates how HE in these two countries is currently being (re)framed, recognizing differences and similarities that express national specificities, as well as exploring how these have evolved within the wider national and pan-national policy context. Overall, the examination demanded going beyond the marketization approach by complementing it with the idea of public good and leads us to stress the importance of the tension between these two approaches as an analytical framework to better understand the changes occurring in different national contexts, within a transnational framework in which the knowledge economy and the central role of HE seems to be indisputably accepted.


Oryx ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ada Sánchez-Mercado ◽  
Marianne Asmüssen ◽  
Jon Paul Rodríguez ◽  
Lisandro Moran ◽  
Arlene Cardozo-Urdaneta ◽  
...  

AbstractIllegal wildlife trade is one of the major threats to Neotropical psittacids, with nearly 28% of species targeted for the illegal pet trade. We analysed the most comprehensive data set on illegal wildlife trade currently available for Venezuela, from various sources, to provide a quantitative assessment of the magnitude, scope and detectability of the trade in psittacids at the national level. We calculated a specific offer index (SO) based on the frequency of which each species was offered for sale. Forty-seven species of psittacids were traded in Venezuela during 1981–2015, of which 17 were non-native. At least 641,675 individuals were traded, with an overall extraction rate of 18,334 individuals per year (35 years of accumulated reports). Amazona ochrocephala was the most frequently detected species (SO = 3.603), with the highest extraction rate (10,544 individuals per year), followed by Eupsittula pertinax (SO = 1.357) and Amazona amazonica (SO = 1.073). Amazona barbadensis, Ara ararauna and Ara chloropterus were the fourth most frequently detected species (SO = 0.564–0.615). Eleven species were involved principally in domestic trade (> 60% of records). Our approach could be the first step in developing a national monitoring programme to inform national policy on the trade in psittacids. Patterns and numbers provided may be used to update the official list of threatened species, and could also be used in planning conservation actions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Marshall ◽  
Colin Strine ◽  
Alice C. Hughes

Abstract Wildlife trade is a key driver of the biodiversity crisis. Unregulated, or under-regulated wildlife trade can lead to unsustainable exploitation of wild populations. International efforts to regulate wildlife mostly miss ‘lower-value’ species, such as those imported as pets, resulting in limited knowledge of trade in groups like reptiles. Here we generate a dataset on web-based private commercial trade of reptiles to highlight the scope of the global reptile trade. We find that over 35% of reptile species are traded online. Three quarters of this trade is in species that are not covered by international trade regulation. These species include numerous endangered or range-restricted species, especially hotspots within Asia. Approximately 90% of traded reptile species and half of traded individuals are captured from the wild. Exploitation can occur immediately after scientific description, leaving new endemic species especially vulnerable. Pronounced gaps in regulation imply trade is having unknown impacts on numerous threatened species. Gaps in monitoring demand a reconsideration of international reptile trade regulations. We suggest reversing the status-quo, requiring proof of sustainability before trade is permitted.


2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-29
Author(s):  
Brian Ford

The dynamics of educational policy discourse in the USA are illustrated by the highly contested positions on charter schools in three arenas: media debates, national policy and local school reform. In media debates, civil society actors – including teachers’ unions, think tanks and print media – engage in polarized exchanges notable for their name-calling and vitriol. In national policy, after two decades of much consensus where charters were viewed as a way of raising standards, policy formation is presently shaped by deep splits on funding and privatization initiatives; charters are increasingly short on the former and seen as potential vehicles for the latter. This manifests itself on the level of local reform, where charters are a component part of numerous school reforms, including a systematic overhaul of the nation's largest school district. There, a corporate model that emphasizes the chief executive officer's role in selecting among productive and unproductive employees has been deployed. The title image (wolf, ears) responds to some of the discourse and is taken from Thomas Jefferson's explanation of the dilemma slavery posed for the USA. As the privatization of standards seems to advance incrementally, the article suggests that a similar dilemma now confronts advocates for public education, especially teachers’ unions, who have previously supported standards-based reform and the use of charters for the purpose of educational innovation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4(59)) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
Andrii Tsybukh ◽  
Olha Kravchenko ◽  
Ivan Pomitun ◽  
Mykola Lysychenko

The object of research is the methodology of a feasibility study for the introduction of a device for sorting sheep products. Sheep products mean sheep wool, the sorting accuracy of which affects the formation of the sale price of the final product (wool), including the size of the manufacturer’s profit, respectively, and the effectiveness and the level of economic efficiency of production. One of the most problematic areas is the subjective assessment of wool quality at the stage of pricing policy formation. This criterion is determined by a set of physical and technological indicators, which include the color of the coat, due to the degree of its melanin pigmentation or yellowing. Such an assessment, at present, is carried out with the participation of the operator, without the involvement of technical means capable of objectively registering and further providing data for the successful selection of sheep and the sale of wool. In the course of the study, a systematic approach to the study of technical and economic processes and phenomena, an abstract logical method, monographic and empirical methods, a comparative analysis method, tabular and graphical methods, as well as a computational and constructive method for substantiating technical and economic indicators of the effectiveness of device implementation were used. The proposed analysis of the implementation of the device allows specialists at the level of enterprises producing sheep products to optimize the formation and implementation of the pricing policy. And it can also be used at the level of government bodies in determining the national policy for the development of sheep breeding and the formation of a strategy for its development. The obtained results of implementation allow: – to increase the profit for each head of animals from the sale of better quality wool; – to increase the level of profitability, which makes it possible to ensure the payback period for additional capital expenditures of less than two years; – to confirm the economic feasibility of using this equipment, since the payback period for additional capital costs does not exceed two years, and the discounted payback period does not exceed the useful life.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e0150666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe F. Greatorex ◽  
Sarah H. Olson ◽  
Sinpakone Singhalath ◽  
Soubanh Silithammavong ◽  
Kongsy Khammavong ◽  
...  

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