Tools and terms for understanding illegal wildlife trade

Abstract

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a global conservation issue that threatens thousands of species, including fish, fungi, medicinal plants, and charismatic mammals. Despite widespread recognition of the problem, debates on the science and policy of IWT generally concentrate on a few high‐profile species (eg rhinoceros, tigers, elephants) and often overlook or conflate complex IWT products, actors, networks, and contexts. A poor understanding of IWT is aggravated by the lack of systematic vocabulary and conceptual tools with which to analyze complex phenomena in a more structured way. We synthesize the available evidence on IWT across taxa and contexts into a typology‐based framework that considers (1) the diversity of wildlife products; (2) the roles of various actors involved with IWT, including harvesters, intermediaries, and consumers; and (3) common IWT network configurations. We propose ways in which these tools can inform structured analyses of IWT, to help ensure more nuanced, appropriate, targeted, and effective responses to illegal wildlife harvest, trade, and use.

Compliance with ivory trade regulations in the United Kingdom among traders

“…Similar to most conservation debates, the answer is not binary; the extant literature indicates that although legal ivory trading can have a positive impact on the economy without any impact on biodiversity (Cox ; Hirst ), it can also be the link between legal and illegal markets, for example, by providing laundering services to integrate illegal products into the mainstream legal market (Phelps et al. ).…”

“…Failing to understand the drivers of compliance can result in policies that fail to anticipate unintended impacts (Phelps et al. ) or create perverse incentives for additional rule breaking. Stricter wildlife‐use regulations alone are unlikely to guarantee an end to poaching (Challender et al.…”

“…Conversely, stakeholders opposing a ban argue that it will incentivize additional poaching by driving up the rarity and price of ivory and that revenue from legal ivory sales supports local communities and conservation in elephant range states (Biggs et al 2017). Similar to most conservation debates, the answer is not binary; the extant literature indicates that although legal ivory trading can have a positive impact on the economy without any impact on biodiversity (Cox 2017;Hirst 2017), it can also be the link between legal and illegal markets, for example, by providing laundering services to integrate illegal products into the mainstream legal market (Phelps et al 2016). Compliance with regulations on wildlife trade is critical to regulatory success, yet violation of CITES agreements remains one of the world's most profitable illicit activities affecting hundreds of millions of plants and animals (Solomon et al 2015).…”

“…An expanded scientific understanding of why noncompliance occurs can pro-vide actionable evidence to decision makers about how to reinforce compliance (Biggs et al 2017). Failing to understand the drivers of compliance can result in policies that fail to anticipate unintended impacts (Phelps et al 2016) or create perverse incentives for additional rule breaking. Stricter wildlife-use regulations alone are unlikely to guarantee an end to poaching (Challender et al 2015;Sollund & Maher 2015).…”

Slow Loris Trade in Vietnam: Exploring Diverse Knowledge and Values

“…Key informant interviews revealed that women may not engage as often in these activities but when they do it is in specific ways, particularly as intermediaries or consumers (not harvesters or hunters [Phelps et al, 2016]). Participatory mapping activities and focus group discussions also revealed clear differences in knowledge of loris habitat between men and women, likely related to different livelihood activities between these groups in the various focal communities and the times during which they were most likely to see a slow loris.…”