There is increasing awareness of and interventions to address rising levels of poaching and trafficking in illegal wildlife products around the globe. However, wildlife populations threatened by illegal activity continue to decline. Human behavior, specifically noncompliance with wildlife laws, is central to this conservation concern. Motivations for poaching and trafficking are diverse and context-specific, and understanding these variables... [ view more ]
There is increasing awareness of and interventions to address rising levels of poaching and trafficking in illegal wildlife products around the globe. However, wildlife populations threatened by illegal activity continue to decline. Human behavior, specifically noncompliance with wildlife laws, is central to this conservation concern. Motivations for poaching and trafficking are diverse and context-specific, and understanding these variables is imperative to creating successful interventions. Developing this understanding will require collaboration between multiple stakeholder groups, including government agencies, NGOs, researchers, and local communities. The field of human dimensions offers conceptual and theoretical frameworks for this endeavor.
A key strategy for targeting non-compliance has been law enforcement, which has improved the effectiveness of conservation efforts in many contexts. However, enforcement is not a panacea for addressing noncompliance. Therefore, it is important to understand both the successes and challenges of enforcement in developing new strategies and more comprehensive approaches. One strategy that is increasingly promoted is increased community engagement and participation, which can range from outreach efforts to community involvement in law enforcement efforts to community-based projects aimed at improving local livelihoods. Community-based conservation projects need to be informed by an understanding of the local context, including the drivers of non-compliant behaviors, and include an evaluative component for measuring project impacts. Additionally, in the context of illegal behavior, the risks and benefits to local participation in enforcement need to be considered.
This session includes a group of diverse speakers from the fields of law enforcement, law, human dimensions, and conservation to provide applied perspectives in managing noncompliance. It will build on a recent symposium in southern Africa, “Beyond enforcement,” which considered the inclusion of local communities in combating wildlife crime, by presenting the role of human dimensions in this critical issue. [ view less ]
