Days 2-3: September 26-27, 2017
Interactive sessions will follow through from the previous presentation day to apply different approaches and enable deeper discussions on how to address critical challenges. Knowledge exchange sessions will cover a range of topics related to addressing both the supply and demand side of the illegal wildlife trade, including:
(click each session title, below for more information)
Conceptual and practical issues:
Modelling Drivers of the Illegal Wildlife Trade
The illegal wildlife trade is complex and there are many factors operating at different spatial and temporal scales that enable or inhibit the trade. There can be controversy about the impact of specific interventions (eg a complete ban on trade of a wildlife product). This interactive session aims to (1) identify drivers at various points along the trade chain and potential (possibly conflicting) causal pathways of different interventions (2) identify potential data sources to measure these drivers and (3) discuss modelling frameworks to explore, understand and predict the relative importance of different drivers and consequences of interventions on the trade.
This session is being led by Fiona Underwood.
Biodiversity and Security
The idea that poaching and trafficking constitute security threats has become a core concern of conservationists, governments, NGOs and international institutions. In this session, we will discuss the different kinds of conservation practices that this produces, and we will share knowledge about their successes, challenges and risks. In this session, we will focus on militarisation, securitisation, surveillance technologies, intelligence-led approaches and forensics for wildlife crime. We will reflect on the differences in approaches for particular species, whether there are regional differences, how and why some approaches encounter resistance. In order to foster open exchange, it will be under Chatham House rules.
This session is being led by Rosaleen Duffy, Hannah Dickinson and Laure Joanny of BIOSEC, University of Sheffield. Discussions and outcomes of the session can be found here.
Ethics and Guidelines for Illegal Wildlife Trade Fieldwork
There are no established guidelines for conducting IWT fieldwork, including market surveys, respondent sampling, ethics protocols etc. There are, however, very specific challenges to research that engages active criminals, hidden populations and sensitive issues. These present unique methodological challenges related to validity of information, researcher safety, ethics, sampling and project design. This session will explore key themes and challenges in conducting IWT fieldwork. It will present lessons from experienced IWT and criminology researchers, and draw on group discussion, debate and collective experiences to develop draft guidelines that can inform future IWT fieldwork.
This session is being led by Jacob Phelps and Gary Potter.
Measuring Demand Reduction Impact
There has been significant interest recently, over the most effective ways to demonstrate the impact of demand reduction communications, in changing consumer choice and reducing major markets for illegally traded wildlife products. A number of reference materials and good practice guidelines have been produced, including by TRAFFIC, who proposes to hold this Expert Roundtable to discuss what is practical and feasible for NGOs to apply in real world scenarios in Asia, in order to ensure they apply a rigorous approach to assessing performance, and gather enough information of a good enough quality, to support adaptive management of campaign communications.
This session is being led by TRAFFIC.
Connecting the dots: trade analysis and policy in the CITES context
This session will provide you with a deeper understanding of the way CITES works, what tools are available to help monitor international wildlife trade, and how governments use the data and tools available to make decisions on the sustainability of trade. Workshop participants will learn how to use two key tools – Species+ and the CITES Trade Database – and will work through the step-by-step process of making a sustainability assessment. We will also brainstorm which future analyses and dedicated research efforts could provide key information to ensure that wildlife trade is sustainable, so bring your thinking caps!
This session is being led by Kelly Malsch and Neil Burgess, UNEP-WCMC and Noeleen Smyth, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Exploring opportunities with different stakeholders:
Changing Business Sector Behaviour
Businesses play a key role in trade and facilitating trade in both legal and illegal wildlife products. This session will highlight various recent innovations in engagement with businesses to reduce illegal trade, switch to more responsible sourcing and avoid facilitating illegal activities including FairWild plant sourcing, the tradition medicine sector, the transport sector, the financial sector, internet companies. The workshop will facilitate discussion with participants on the focus of activities to further encourage market transformation, fostering real change rather than empty pledges and reducing the barriers to real action to address this issue.
This session is being led by TRAFFIC.
Engaging Religious Partners
The supply and demand for wildlife parts and products is at it’s most intense in Asia and Africa, regions where religion is a powerful force in society and a strong determinant of individual decision-making. Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian faith leaders are widely viewed as being among the most influential figures in society. Engaging with religious leaders, and through them, their vast communities can have a powerful impact on one of the key drivers of the wildlife trade: peoples’ views about nature. This session will discuss Alliance of Religions and Conservation’s work with religious and conservation partners in wildlife trade hotspots in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, China, India and Kenya, as well as explore opportunities for future potential partnerships.
This session is being led by Chantal Elkin, Alliance of Religions and Conservation.
Empowering Rural Communities
This session will involve short case study presentations from the Africa and Asia highlighting practical experience of projects that have sought to engage communities in addressing IWT. This will be followed by ‘round-robin’ break out groups focused around four stations on topics outlined in the bullet point section below. Each station will have one person resident at that station acting as a rapporteur and facilitator throughout the session whilst other participants move through each, in turn, discussing the topics at hand and sharing their experiences. The session will conclude with a plenary feedback and group discussion bringing together lessons learned.
This session is being led by Paul De Ornellas, Zoological Society of London.
Zoos and Aquaria in the 21st Century
This session examines how standards of zoo and aquarium professionalism have evolved from the 18th Century to the present day and challenges the commonly held misconception that all zoos and aquaria contribute to the Illegal Wildlife Trade. It charts the history of zoos and aquaria, the development of an ethos as a professional community, and the evolution of zoos and aquaria from consumers of wildlife to protectors of wildlife. Regional accreditation programmes, cooperative animal management systems and field conservation strategies will be emphasized to reveal the science, dedication and wildlife advocacy that lie behind their public face. Modern zoos and aquaria have a collective audience numbered in the hundreds of millions; and they are eager to ally with other wildlife conservation organizations to steward the natural world.
This session will explore the ways in which zoos and aquaria are currently working to address the illegal wildlife trade through a series of case studies and considers ways to expand and strengthen their influence and collaboration in the wildlife conservation community. Participants will brainstorm and chart potential 5-year strategies, with specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-anchored goals for wider zoo/aquarium involvement in combatting illegal wildlife trade.
This session is being led by San Diego Zoo and Zoological Society of London.
Interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies:
New Methods for Asking Questions about Sensitive or Illegal Behaviour
Many approaches to conserving and managing natural resources depend upon rules, but the existence of rules alone does not guarantee compliance. Information on rule breaking behaviour is needed in order to inform the design of interventions. However, directly investigating rule breaking is difficult as perpetrators may not wish to identify themselves. Other disciplines have developed methods for answering sensitive questions but so far these have not been widely applied in conservation. This workshop will introduce you to the randomised response technique and the unmatched count technique with examples from conservation.
This session is being led by Freya St John.
Designing and Implementing Effective Social Surveys
Anyone can design a survey. However, not everyone ends up with the answers they were looking for when they decided to create the instrument. This course/module will cover the basic elements of designing and implementing a survey using diverse methods (e.g., households -cultural sensitivity included vs. digital data collection techniques). This course is useful for both novices in survey methodology and for more experienced students, who want to refresh their knowledge. After the course, participants are ready to apply the learned towards their own surveys, are able to critically assess existing surveys and survey documentation, and are able to take advanced training in survey methodology and analysis.
This session is being led by Jenny Glikman, San Diego Zoo Global.
Market Dynamics: Economics of Supply and Demand
This session will explain how economists conceptualize markets and how this helps us to understand and potentially predict the interactions between various agents along supply chains. Such knowledge can help us understand why and when certain trade policy interventions may or may not be effective in achieving ultimate conservation goals. All concepts will be explained and illustrated using real-world examples of wildlife trade (illegal and legal).
This session is being led by Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes, University of Oxford.
Deduction, Induction, Abduction: Changing the way you Problem Solve
Complex problems can’t be solved through conventional problem solving approaches. Acknowledging this means a sector can take a fresh look at the way they are working and change the paradigm. Game Changers Studios, University of Technology Sydney works at a sector level to deepen perspectives, and to reshape paradigms in a way that unlocks complex problems. Current partners include the NSW Department of Justice, the Royal Australian Air Force, Ministry of Security and Justice in the Netherlands, and many more. The process engages multiple stakeholders to collaboratively reframe problems and to develop solution packages that cut across organizational silos.
This session is being led by Rodger Watson, University of Technology Sydney.
Systematic Approach to Investigating Online Wildlife Trade
Trade in wildlife, both legal and illegal, is increasingly moving on to the internet, this presents both opportunities and challenges for investigating the trade. Here we will look at a systematic approach to studying online wildlife trade with the aim of providing a framework for conducting a transparent and replicable survey. Further we will look at the data that can be extracted from sales that may prove useful when looking at illegal trade.
This session is being led by David Roberts, University of Kent.
A Basic Introduction to the Dark Web and Machine Learning
The illegal wildlife trade is moving online, however, accessing and monitoring this trade requires a level of technical skill. This session looks at two aspects, the first is trade over the dark web and the technology required to access it and the protocols for navigating the dark web. The second will look at how to use machine learning to automate the monitoring the illegal online trade.
This session is being led by Julio Hernandez-Castro, University of Kent.
Delegates will have the opportunity to select and register in advance for sessions in which they wish to participate, customising their schedule for both days. Sessions will be limited in numbers, and sign-up will be on a first-come first served basis. Early registration is advised.
Evening 2: September 26, 2017
In the evening of the 26th of September, John Simpson, CBE, BBC World Affairs Editor, will chair a public debate on the illegal wildlfe trade.
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