Deconstructing the Poaching Phenomenon

Essen, Erica von; Hansen, Hans Peter; Källström, Helena Nordström; Peterson, M. Nils; Peterson, Tarla Rai

doi:10.1093/bjc/azu022

Cited by 119 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(140 reference statements)

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“…Most studies in this area apply a limited number of methods and thus lack the triangulation or broad perspective needed to reflect the complexity of human behavior (von Essen et al. ). Although the use of predictive methods to investigate the impact of behavior change interventions has increased (e.g., Travers et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding complex drivers of wildlife crime to design effective conservation interventions

Travers

Archer

Mwedde

et al. 2019

Conservation Biology

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In conservation understanding the drivers of behavior and developing robust interventions to promote behavioral change is challenging and requires a multifaceted approach. This is particularly true for efforts to address illegal wildlife use, where pervasive—and sometimes simplistic—narratives often obscure complex realities. We used an indirect questioning approach, the unmatched count technique, to investigate the drivers and prevalence of wildlife crime in communities surrounding 2 national parks in Uganda and combined scenario interviews and a choice experiment to predict the performance of potential interventions designed to tackle these crimes. Although poverty is often assumed to be a key driver of wildlife crime, we found that better‐off households and those subject to human–wildlife conflict and those that do not receive any benefits from the parks’ tourism revenue sharing were more likely to be involved in certain types of wildlife crime, especially illegal hunting. The interventions predicted to have the greatest impact on reducing local participation in wildlife crime were those that directly addressed the drivers including, mitigating damage caused by wildlife and generating financial benefits for park‐adjacent households. Our triangulated approach provided insights into complex and hard‐to‐access behaviors and highlighted the importance of going beyond single‐driver narratives.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding complex drivers of wildlife crime to design effective conservation interventions

Travers

Archer

Mwedde

et al. 2019

Conservation Biology

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“…Some have engaged in hunting rhinos before it became illegalized and marked as "poaching" (Montesh 2013;Von Essen et al 2014). Hunters often cross porous international borders, such as that between Mozambique and South Africa's Kruger National Park in search of rhinos (Milliken, Emslie, and Talukdar 2009), notwithstanding the "long-term warfare between anti-poaching paramilitary units and local hunters" (Von Essen et al 2014, 632).…”

Section: The Smuggling Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subversive mobilities

Cohen

2017

Applied Mobilities

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There has been an inherent bias in studies of "mobility regimes" toward the perspective of the authorities. This article suggests the concept of "subversive mobilities" to offer a novel perspective on the construct of mobilities regimes, by stressing the ways such regimes are penetrated by adversaries through diverse routes and practices, despite the regimes' various control and defense mechanisms. We investigate how "smugglers" make use of weaknesses in existing mobility regimes to facilitate their subversion, using three case studies of subversive mobilities, smuggling of Rohingya migrants, of Colombian cocaine and of South African rhino horns, to substantiate the potential of our approach. The subversive mobilities of all three case studies reveal some common traits: a multiplicity of routes and means of travel, informal personal networks based on trust and retribution rather than formal organization, and interconnected series of assemblages of differently involved actors. We claim that the continued success of "smugglers" to subvert the existing mobility regimes is their greater flexibility: they tend to be pro-active, initiating new routes and means of movement, and the cooperation of illicit and legitimate role-bearers, while the mobility regimes are mostly reactive, giving the former at least a temporary advantage over the latter. Our approach leads to a more inclusive and dynamic view of mobilities regimes, and enables a better understanding of why the "smuggling" of goods and "trafficking" in people is increasingly successful, despite the efforts of mobilities regimes to block these activities.

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“…This subculture has unique norms, networks, and identities to which rural interests will mobilize in order to defend against external threats (e.g., von Essen et al 2015). Factors that portend sociopolitical changes impacting rural cultural landscapes can provide the impetus for rural hunters to illegally take wildlife (von Essen et al 2014), making the subculture a deviant one. Below, we identify sociopolitical forces that have generated potential threats to a rural hunting subculture in regions that are historically dependent on hunting in the southeastern U.S., focusing on North Carolina.…”

Section: A Politics Of the Rural: A Hunting Subculture Under Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often termed poaching, it is influenced by social, cultural, cognitive, and political factors and, depending on one's perception, it is a practice that can blur the boundaries of legitimacy within wildlife governance (von Essen and Allen 2015). Scholars have attempted to unpack this complexity and simplify these boundaries, crafting primarily reductionist typologies, theories, and models to profile offenders (von Essen, Hansen, Källström, Peterson, and Peterson 2014). The foci of these studies tend to be poacher motivations and rationalizations for their behavior (e.g., Eliason 1999;Muth and Bow Jr. 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies can assist scholars and wildlife managers to "describe, prescribe, predict, and explain" aspects of illegal take behavior and how to address it (Kahler and Gore 2012, p.104). Addressing illegal take behavior in this way is useful for problematizing what is wrong with the individual, but pays insufficient attention to social dynamics contributing to the behavior (von Essen et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Sociopolitical Perspective on the Illegal Take of Wildlife in the Southeastern, USA

Serenari¹,

Peterson²

2016

International Journal of Rural Criminology

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Illegal take of wildlife is a complex and growing phenomenon, influenced by various factors. Scholars have paid limited attention to structural influences, however. We examine the structural processes that influence illegal take behavior in rural areas of the southeastern USA. Engaging historical and contemporary qualitative data from the region, we first identify that struggles between a rural hunting sub-culture and outsiders over the meaning and governance of humanwildlife interactions in rural areas emerged from several sociopolitical shifts. We then associate illegal take behavior performed by the rural hunting sub-culture with a radicalization framework consisting of injustice, vulnerability, superiority, and distrust. Regulators should not be surprised by the occurrence of illegal take behavior because sociopolitical factors contributed to delegitimization of wildlife law among the sub-culture. Engaging sub-culture gatekeepers in ways that limit exclusionary wildlife governance and imposition of external values may moderate negative outcomes caused by major sociopolitical shifts.

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Deconstructing the Poaching Phenomenon

Cited by 119 publications

References 68 publications

Understanding complex drivers of wildlife crime to design effective conservation interventions

Understanding complex drivers of wildlife crime to design effective conservation interventions

Subversive mobilities

A Sociopolitical Perspective on the Illegal Take of Wildlife in the Southeastern, USA

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