Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

Survey-based inference of continental African elephant decline

Long-term quantification of temporal species trends is fundamental to the assignment of conservation status, which in turn is critical for planning and targeting management interventions. However, monitoring effort and methodologies can change over the assessment period, resulting in heterogeneous data that are difficult to interpret. Here, we develop a hierarchical, random effects Bayesian model to estimate site-level trends in density of African elephants from geographically disparate survey data. The approach treats the density trend per site as a random effect and estimates a parametric distribution of these trends for each partitioning of the data. Data were available from 475 sites, in 37 countries, between 1964 and 2016 (a total of 1,325 surveys). We implemented the model separately and in combination for the African forest (Loxodonta cyclotis) and savannah (Loxodonta africana) elephant species, as well as by region. Inference from these distributions indicates a mean site-level decline for each species over the study period, with the average forest elephant decline estimated to be more than 90% compared to 70% for the savannah elephant. In combination, there has been a mean 77% decline across all sites; but in all models, substantial heterogeneity in trends was found, with stable to increasing trends more common in southern Africa. This work provides the most comprehensive assessment undertaken on the two African elephant species, illustrating the variability in their status across populations.

Assessing the risk of overexploitation to a tarantula species in the pet trade

The global pet trade in invertebrates remains poorly understood and underrepresented in policy and research. Tarantulas are a highly traded invertebrate group. Many individuals in trade are wild caught, and trade regulation is often lacking, raising concerns about the effect of trade on local ecosystems and populations. We addressed local concerns surrounding the international trade of Tapinauchenius rasti (Caribbean diamond tarantula), which is endemic to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. We assessed the extinction risks associated with this widely traded species by analyzing supply of and demand for the species with the COM-B (capability, opportunity, motivation, behavior) model. This model breaks down decision-making into capability, opportunity, and motivation. We interviewed stakeholders throughout the supply chain and analyzed content of an online hobbyist forum and a time series of prices for this species and other tarantulas. In terms of motivation, there was limited preference for the Caribbean diamond tarantula due to its morphology and behavior. In terms of opportunity, the species was readily available, primarily through captive breeding. Collecting wild specimens is challenging due to enforcement measures and logistical difficulties, making it an unprofitable endeavor. In terms of capability, the species was relatively low in price, likely because it is easy to breed in captivity. As a result, the current wildlife trade does not pose a significant threat to the Caribbean diamond tarantula. Our methodology can serve as a valuable tool for assessing potential threats posed by trade to other spider species and possibly other invertebrates. Understanding these threats is crucial for promoting responsible and sustainable trade practices that minimize risks to wild populations while ensuring equitable benefits for communities coexisting with wildlife.

Effects of trade and poaching pressure on extinction risk for cacti in the Atacama Desert

In this era of a global biodiversity crisis, vascular plants are facing unprecedented extinction rates. We conducted an assessment of the extinction risk of 32 species and 7 subspecies of Copiapoa, a genus endemic to Chile's fog-dependent coastal Atacama Desert. We applied the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Categories and Criteria enhanced by expert insights and knowledge. Our primary aim was to analyze the impact of trade and poaching on their extinction risk. We employed machine learning models, including multinomial logistic regression (MLR), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF), to analyze the relationships between conservation status and various factors. These factors encompassed trade and poaching activities, landscape condition, human footprint, monthly cloud frequency, and biological traits such as evolutionary distinctiveness and maximum diameter. Seven taxa had an area of occupancy (AOO) of <10 km2, 10 additional taxa had an AOO of <20 km2, and 16 taxa had an AOO of ≤100 km2. This reassessment exposed a critical level of extinction risk for the genus; 92% of the taxa were classified as threatened, 41% as critically endangered, 41% as endangered, and 10% as vulnerable. MLR, DT, and RF exhibited accuracies of 0.784, 0.730, and 0.598, respectively, and identified trade and poaching pressure and landscape condition as the primary drivers of extinction risk. Our assessment of Copiapoa showed trade, poaching, habitat degradation, and their synergic impacts as the main drivers of the genus' extinction risk. Our results highlight the urgent need for nations to develop and enforce strategies to monitor and control trade and poaching pressure because these factors are crucial for the long-term persistence of desert plants.

Assessing the legal, illegal, and gray ornamental trade of the critically endangered helmeted hornbill

Monitoring wildlife trade dynamics is an important initial step for conservation action and demand reduction campaigns to reduce illegal wildlife trade. Studies often rely on one data source to assess a species' trade, such as seizures or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) trade data. Each database provides useful information but is often incomplete. Combining information from multiple sources helps provide a more complete understanding of trade. A recent rapid increase in demand for helmeted hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil) casques (a brightly colored, solid keratinous rostrum) led to its uplisting to critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List in 2015. However, there is little current information on what factors influence trade trends and what current levels of demand are. We combined data from CITES, seizure records, and previously underused, yet abundant, art and antique auction data to examine the global trade in helmeted hornbill casque products (HHPs). Three decades of auction data revealed that 1027 individual HHPs had been auctioned since 1992; total auction sales were over US$3 million from 1992 to 2021. The number of HHPs auctioned was greatest from 2011 to 2014, just after the global art boom (2009-2011), followed by a decline in volume and price. The auction data also revealed 2 possible markets for HHPs: true antique and speculative, defined by era, price, and trade patterns. Trends in illegal trade matched those of the auction market, but legal trade remained consistently low. Combining data sources from legal, illegal, and gray markets provided an overview of the dynamics of illegal trade in an endangered species. This approach can be applied to other wildlife markets to provide a more complete understanding of trade and demand at the market level to inform future demand reduction campaigns.

Audience segmentation approach to conservation messaging for transforming the exotic pet trade

Advancing transformative change for sustainability requires population-wide behavior change. Yet, many behavioral interventions tackling environmental problems only examine average effects on the aggregate, overlooking the heterogeneous effects in a population. We developed and preregistered a novel audience segmentation approach to test the diverse impact of conservation messaging on reducing demand for exotic pets (private action - i.e., desire to own exotic pets or visit wildlife entertainment places) and fostering citizen engagement for system-wide change (civic action - e.g., signing a petition or participating in a protest against the exotic pet trade). Through an online survey with US participants (n = 2953), we identified 4 population segments (early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards), representing varying levels of commitment to wildlife conservation and then randomly assigned each segment to one of 3 messaging conditions. Messages highlighting negative consequences of the exotic pet trade and the power of collective action for system change effectively promoted private action among all segments except early adopters (ηp 2 = 0.005). Among civic actions, only the collective action message motivated early adopters and the early majority to sign petitions (φC = 0.193 and φC = 0.097, respectively). Furthermore, the 4 segments showed distinct reasoning for action and inaction on wildlife conservation, with certain relational values, such as care, serving as both motivations and barriers to action. These findings highlight the need for targeted behavioral interventions across diverse populations.

Learning from perpetrator replacement to remove crime opportunities and prevent poaching of the Sundarbans tiger

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is one of the leading causes of the decline in high-value species. Crime-reduction strategies to counter IWT can have unintended effects, with crime displacement occurring when offenders react to such interventions. Despite the value of understanding how and why displacement occurs for informing conservation strategies, few examples are published. We explored a case of perpetrator replacement following an intervention and drew lessons for conservation strategies for high-value species. Poaching and subsequent trade threaten the Sundarbans tiger (Panthera tigris). Pirate gangs were the dominant poachers from 1980 to 2017, but following an extensive campaign, the Sundarbans was declared pirate free in 2018. We interviewed 280 individuals, including 100 tiger poachers, from 26 administrative unions bordering the Sundarbans and used interviewee responses to compare the poaching situation during and after the pirate era. We analyzed the spatial distribution of tiger poachers among the unions and used crime script analysis of the dominant poacher type to identify intervention. Because pirates opportunistically poached tigers, the government's successful counter-pirate campaign inadvertently removed the dominant tiger poaching type. However, a temporary reduction in poaching was rapidly cancelled out by the emergence of at least 32 specialist tiger-poaching teams. With the risk of extortion and robbery from pirates gone, other groups increased the frequency of opportunistic and targeted tiger poaching. Based on expert interviews, we estimated that 341 tiger poachers of all types are active throughout the unions, with 79% of specialists concentrated in 27% of unions. The highly focused counter-pirate campaign reduced motivations and opportunities for piracy but left intact the opportunity structure and trade connections for tiger poaching, and with insufficient enforcement officers trading has flourished. Interventions targeting opportunities for poaching by specialist tiger poachers include heightened surveillance and reporting mechanisms and alternative livelihood provision to disincentivize poaching.

COVID-19 impacts, opportunities and challenges for wildlife farms in Binh Duong and Ba Ria Vung Tau, Vietnam

The wildlife trade is a major cause of species loss and can trigger disease transmission. While the COVID-19 pandemic sparked public interest in eliminating the wildlife trade, a better understanding is needed of the economic repercussions of COVID-19 on those who rely on wildlife farming for their livelihoods. Using the case studies of Ba Ria Vung Tau and Binh Duong provinces in Vietnam - a country seen as Asia's wildlife trade hotspot - this paper explores COVID-19's impacts on wildlife farms and their owners. Understanding these impacts is important, both in order to design appropriate interventions to support local people in mitigating COVID-19's impacts as well as to inform effective policymaking around wildlife conservation in Vietnam. In this study, we adopted mixed research methods (including a literature and policy review, stakeholder consultation with government agencies and NGOs engaged in designing and monitoring wildlife conservation policies, a wildlife farming household survey, and research validation workshop) to understand the status of Vietnamese wildlife farms, as well as the impacts of COVID-19, and any opportunities and challenges for wildlife conservation and management in Vietnam. Our paper shows that, across the two studied provinces, numbers of wildlife farms and farmed wildlife animals have both declined since the pandemic, with declining market demand and wildlife farm owners experiencing difficulties accessing markets due to travel restrictions. Although this affected wildlife-related income, this represented less than 30 % of families' overall income on average, and thus households were able to maintain their livelihoods through other sources. Most wildlife is raised as an additional food source for farming families and plays an important role in the diets of surveyed households. Findings also highlighted that most surveyed households' post-pandemic recovery strategies involved expanding their wildlife farms in scope and scale; these households perceived a stable domestic market and high prices for wildlife products in future. Our study found several opportunities for sustainable wildlife farming practices, including greater political commitment, an increasing number of wildlife conservation policies, and stronger law enforcement mechanisms. Challenges remain, however; including an unclear and inconsistent policy framework, the presence of an illegal market, and wildlife farm owners' limited knowledge and understanding of wildlife policies. Our paper also shows a lack of comprehensive data and understanding around actual wildlife transactions during the pandemic, leading to challenges in confirming whether COVID-19 had any real impact on wildlife trade. Further research is required to address this knowledge gap.

Assessing the Impact of Village Development on the Habitat Quality of Yunnan Snub-Nosed Monkeys Using the INVEST Model

Simple Summary

The Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is one of the most endangered species on the IUCN Red List. The study of its population and habitat quality is important in identifying opportunities for balancing socio-economic development against species conservation in the area’s villages. Such balances are important to protecting and improving habitat diversity and biodiversity. Our habitat quality analysis indicates that increases in socio-economic developments in the villages around the habitat area have decreased both the habitat area and the habitat quality over time. This has resulted in a decline in biodiversity persistence, resilience, and breadth. It also has exacerbated the risk of declining species populations, potentially to extinction. Though focused on the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, our approach toward the assessment of habitat quality based on species habitat suitability introduces a new perspective for assessing village development impacts on the habitat quality for the conservation of other species.

Abstract

The habitats of the already endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) are degrading as village economies develop in and around these habitat areas, increasing the depopulation and biodiversity risk of the monkey. The paper aims to show the areas of these monkeys’ high-quality habitats that are at highest risk of degradation by continued village development and hence be the focus of conservation efforts. Our analysis leveraged multiple tools, including primary component analysis, the InVEST Habitat-Quality model, and GIS spatial analysis. We enhanced our analysis by looking at habitat quality as it relates to the habitat suitability for the monkey specifically, instead of general habitat quality. We also focused on the impact of the smallest administrative scale in China—the village. These foci produced a clearer picture of the monkeys’ and villages’ situations, allowing for more targeted discussions on win–win solutions for both the monkeys and the village inhabitants. The results show that the northern habitat for the monkey is currently higher quality than the southern habitat, and correspondingly, the village development in the north is lower than in the south. Hence, we recommend conservation efforts be focused on the northern areas, though we also encourage the southern habitats to be protected from further degradation lest they degrade beyond the point of supporting any monkeys. We encourage developing a strategy that balances ecological protection and economic development in the northern region, a long-term plan for the southern region to reduce human disturbance, increase effective habitat restoration, and improve corridor design.

An integrative framework for transformative social change: a case in global wildlife trade

To achieve a sustainable future, it is imperative to transform human actions collectively and underlying social structures. Decades of research in social sciences have offered complementary insights into how such transformations might occur. However, these insights largely remain disjunct and of limited scope, such that strategies for solving global environmental challenges remain elusive. There is a need to integrate approaches focusing on individuals and social structures to understand how individual actions influence and are in turn influenced by social structures and norms. In this paper, we synthesize a range of insights across different schools of thought and integrate them in a novel framework for transformative social change. Our framework explains the relationships among individual behaviors, collective actions, and social structures and helps change agents guide societal transitions toward environmental sustainability. We apply this framework to the global wildlife trade-which presents several distinct challenges of human actions, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic-and identify pathways toward transformative change. One key distinction we make is between different individual actions that comprise the practice itself (e.g., buying wildlife products; private action) and those that push for a broader system change in practice (e.g., signaling (dis)approval for wildlife consumption; social-signaling action, and campaigning for policies that end unsustainable wildlife trade; system-changing action). In general, transformative change will require an integrative approach that includes both structural reforms and all three classes of individual action.

Trading Animal Lives: Ten Tricky Issues on the Road to Protecting Commodified Wild Animals

Wildlife commodification can generate benefits for biodiversity conservation, but it also has negative impacts; overexploitation of wildlife is currently one of the biggest drivers of vertebrate extinction risk. In the present article, we highlight 10 issues that in our experience impede sustainable and humane wildlife trade. Given humanity's increasing demands on the natural world we question whether many aspects of wildlife trade can be compatible with appropriate standards for biodiversity conservation and animal welfare, and suggest that too many elements of wildlife trade as it currently stands are not sustainable for wildlife or for the livelihoods that it supports. We suggest that the onus should be on traders to demonstrate that wildlife use is sustainable, humane, and safe (with respect to disease and invasion risk), rather than on conservationists to demonstrate it is not, that there is a need for a broad acceptance of responsibility and, ultimately, widespread behavior change. We urge conservationists, practitioners, and others to take bold, progressive steps to reach consensus and action.

The Impact of Information on Attitudes toward Sustainable Wildlife Utilization and Management: A Survey of the Chinese Public

Simple Summary

The widespread dissemination of information related to wildlife utilization in new online media and traditional media undoubtedly impacts societal conservation concepts and attitudes, thus triggering public discussions on the relationship between conservation and utilization. In this study, questionnaires were distributed in seven major geographic regions of Chinese mainland to investigate the public’s awareness and agreement with information related to the utilization of wildlife in order to measure the impact of information on various issues relating wildlife conservation and utilization. The Chinese public had the greatest awareness and agreement with information that prevents unsustainable and illegal utilization, and the least awareness and agreement with information that promotes unsustainable utilization. It is also noteworthy that the Chinese public have higher levels of awareness and agreement with information that does not support utilization than with information that supports sustainable utilization. From our research, we can conclude that overall the public tends to support and be informed by a purist view of conservation, and there is significantly less support for conservation based on sustainable utilization. On this basis, we suggest that in the future, conservation education should seek to balance the public’s respect and love for nature which is often inspired by social media, with more scientific information about scientific understandings that influence conservation policy and practice.

Abstract

The widespread dissemination of information related to wildlife utilization in new online media and traditional media undoubtedly impacts societal conservation concepts and attitudes, thus triggering public discussions on the relationship between conservation and utilization. A study on how public attitudes and concepts are affected by the related information on wildlife utilization is helpful to implement the scientific wildlife conservation and management strategies, and to propose targeted measures to optimize the information environment. We designed the questionnaire to investigate the public’s awareness and agreement with related information on wildlife utilization so as to measure how information with different dissemination channels, source types, and content orientation influenced the public’s concept of wildlife conservation and utilization. The questionnaire was distributed in seven major geographical regions throughout China. Out of a total of 1645 questionnaires that were collected, 1294 questionnaires were valid, with an effective rate of 78.7%. Results show that respondents had the greatest awareness of information on preventing unsustainable and illegal utilization, and the lowest awareness of information on promoting unsustainable utilization, and that awareness of information that against utilization was higher than that of information which supported sustainable utilization. At the same time, respondents showed the greatest agreement for information on preventing unsustainable utilization and the lowest agreement for information on promoting unsustainable utilization; also, their agreement with information that against utilization was higher than that for information which supported sustainable use. Respondents had a high level of awareness of information on wildlife related to COVID-19 provided by experts. Gender, age, the level of development of the city in which they live, education, vegetarianism, and religious beliefs all affected respondents’ agreement with related information on wildlife utilization. This research suggests that the publicity and education of scientific conservation methods should be emphasized in the future conservation education. In addition, scholars in the field of wildlife research should assume the role of ‘influencer’ and give full play to the scientific guidance of public opinion.

Socio-demographic correlates of wildlife consumption during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

To inform efforts at preventing future pandemics, we assessed how socio-demographic attributes correlated with wildlife consumption as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) first spread across Asia. Self-reported wildlife consumption was most strongly related to COVID-19 awareness; those with greater awareness were 11-24% less likely to buy wildlife products. A hypothetical intervention targeting increased awareness, support for wildlife market closures and reduced medical impacts of COVID-19 could halve future wildlife consumption rates across several countries and demographics.

Understanding Singapore's dynamic parrot trade ecosystem

Singapore is prominent in the global trade of pet birds, primarily parrots. This includes its role as a key international transit hub, and also its growing domestic market, including for threatened species. There is a need to understand the trade beyond volumes and flows, including consumer knowledge, preferences and behaviours, and interactions with vendors, hobbyist groups and supporting industries. We used three methods to examine this: (1) a questionnaire with stakeholders (including parrot owners, hobbyist group members, breeders and supporting industry professionals), about the motivations for parrot ownership and interest in sustainable trade, (2) semi-structured interviews with key informants about trade dynamics, and (3) a review of online hobbyist groups. Based on our findings, we provide an initial mapping of the country's parrot trade ecosystem. Fifty-one per cent of respondents claimed to be a member of a parrot hobbyist group and 64% agreed their participation in such groups had encouraged them to purchase more parrots. The majority (71%) of parrot owners reported a preference for captive-bred rather than wild-caught parrots, and 72% were concerned about the illegal hunting of parrots for commercial trade. Most were willing to pay more (70%) and wait longer (73%) to procure a sustainably sourced parrot. Our approach presents the wildlife trade as a complex social phenomenon, with multiple physical and online channels, regulatory challenges, social networks, and evolving consumer preferences. We also document the pivotal role of hobbyist groups and their untapped potential to leverage these networks to improve sustainable trade.

Biodiversity conservation as a promising frontier for behavioural science

Human activities are degrading ecosystems worldwide, posing existential threats for biodiversity and humankind. Slowing and reversing this degradation will require profound and widespread changes to human behaviour. Behavioural scientists are therefore well placed to contribute intellectual leadership in this area. This Perspective aims to stimulate a marked increase in the amount and breadth of behavioural research addressing this challenge. First, we describe the importance of the biodiversity crisis for human and non-human prosperity and the central role of human behaviour in reversing this decline. Next, we discuss key gaps in our understanding of how to achieve behaviour change for biodiversity conservation and suggest how to identify key behaviour changes and actors capable of improving biodiversity outcomes. Finally, we outline the core components for building a robust evidence base and suggest priority research questions for behavioural scientists to explore in opening a new frontier of behavioural science for the benefit of nature and human wellbeing.

China's Legalization of Domestic Rhino Horn Trade: Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Perspectives and the Likelihood of Prescription

Despite the international ban on the trade of rhino horn that has been in place since 1977, persistent demand for horn in Asia has driven a spike in poaching over the past decade. This has embroiled the conservation community in a debate over the efficacy of banning trade relative to other solutions. Proposals for trade to be legalized and supplied through the dehorning of live rhinos or the production of synthetic horn are contentious. The need for empirical research into the potential impacts of legalization on demand was made more urgent in 2018 when China publicized its intentions to reopen its domestic trade and permit the use of rhino horn in medical treatment. In this study, we interviewed 84 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners in the Chinese province of Guangdong. While 58 (69.05%, n = 84) of our interviewees were in favor of trade legalization, only 32 (38.10%, n = 84) thought it likely that trade legalization would cause them to increase their prescription of rhino horn over current levels. This is probably because clinical cases in which rhino horn is medically appropriate are uncommon. We also found that 33 (39.29%, n = 84) practitioners were open to using synthetic horn for patient treatment, which has implications for the viability of synthetic horn as a conservation tool. This research contributes empirical insight to advance the discourse on rhino horn trade policy.