First paragraph: A British tourist on a tropical beach poses for a photo with a cute monkey-like animal. A Vietnamese man buys some rhino-horn powder and brags to his friends about its potency. An orchid collector admires their latest purchase, a stunning bright-pink flower, without worrying too much about where it came from.https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-people-buy-illegal-wildlife-products-and-how-to-stop-them-14549

Hinsley, Amy

Thomas-Walters, Laura

Veríssimo, Diogo

Stirling Online Research Repository

AuthorsLaura Thomas-WaltersPostdoctoral Research Fellow, University ofStirlingAmy HinsleySenior Research Fellow, University ofOxfordDiogo VeríssimoResearch Fellow in ConservationMarketing, University of OxfordAcademic rigour, journalistic flairA British tourist on a tropical beach poses for a photo with a cute monkey-like animal. AVietnamese man buys some rhino-horn powder and brags to his friends about its potency.An orchid collector admires their latest purchase, a stunning bright-pink flower, withoutworrying too much about where it came from.These are very three different people, from different parts of the world. But what they allhave in common is they are driving – sometimes unwittingly, often not – the illegalwildlife trade. This trade is one of the largest and most lucrative international crimes andposes a major danger to both wild populations and our own health. The complexity of thetrade, which involves thousands of species sold for diverse purposes worldwide, can be abarrier to conservationists trying to design ways to address it. For example, reducingdemand is vital, but this requires understanding why different consumers buy what theybuy.In our latest academic research, now published in the journal Conservation Biology, wehave developed a classification of the common motivations behind the purchase of wildlifeproducts. We found that, even in the midst of this complexity, wildlife consumers aredriven by five overarching motivations:1. Practical needsSome wildlife consumers are motivated by everyday purposes.For sale: a bird market in Indonesia. Peter Nijenhuis / flickr, CC BY-NC-SAFive reasons people buy illegal wildlife products – and how tostop themSeptember 3, 2020 3.18pm BSTCan include: Consuming wildlife for food or medicine; using wild-collected materials for building;using animals for labour; using wood or other plant material for fuel.For example: Dried seahorses are used to treat a variety of ailments in China and Taiwan, includingsexual dysfunction, difficult childbirth and arthritis.Potential solution: Engage the traditional-medicine community to establish a voluntary code of conduct that focuses on sustainable trade, such as refusing to import small or pregnant seahorses.2. MoneySome wildlife consumers are motivated by financial gain.Can include: Buying a wildlife product to profit from it, either immediately or as an investment forthe future.For example: Vendors in Turkey and other tourist destinations use slow lorises as props in photoopportunities.Dried seahorses for sale in Hong Kong. Todd Mecklen / flickr, CC BY-NC-SAPotential solution: Increase legal enforcement and sanction people caught peddling endangeredwildlife. For instance, after the pop star Rihanna tweeted a selfie with a slow loris while on holiday inThailand, local police raided a group of wildlife touts and made two arrests.3. Social relationshipsSome wildlife consumers are motivated by social relationships.Can include: Trying to improve your social reputation; consuming due to pressure from family andfriends; strengthening relationships with other people.For example: Rich businessmen in Vietnam buy expensive, illegal rhino horn to enhance their statusamong colleagues and clients.Potential solution: A campaign to persuade businessmen that success comes from within, that they donot need to rely on external products to impress others. (This is actually underway, see the ongoing Chi Campaign run by the NGOs Save The Rhino and TRAFFIC.)4. The experienceSome wildlife consumers are motivated by pleasure, novelty, or curiosity.Can include: Using wildlife products as part of a leisure activity; pleasing the senses with things thatlook, smell or feel nice.For example: Hobbyist orchid collectors in China value their beauty and care little if the plants havebeen illegally supplied from the wild. Consumer research shows that colourfulness is a majormotivator.Slow Lorises are native to Southeast Asia but have been exported around the world. NAS CREATIVES / shutterstockWildlife conservation rhino horns Illegal wildlife trade OrchidsPotential solution: Breed legal, cultivated orchids to be more attractiveto consumers (in this case, to be more colourful), thereby reducing theincentive to buy wild ones.5. SpiritualitySome wildlife consumers are motivated by spiritual needs, or the need tobring protection, luck, or fortune in business and life.Can include: Using wildlife products to enhance spiritual wellbeing;religious practices; performing rituals or traditions.For example: Lansan tree resin is used to make incense for religiousservices in the Caribbean island of St Lucia. Overexploitation for resinmeans the tree is disappearing from the few Caribbean islands that makeup its native range.Potential solution: Work with harvesters to develop sustainableharvesting techniques.Both the products and the people involved in the wildlife trade areincredibly diverse, and consumers cannot always be pigeonholed into one neat category. In Indonesia,for example, songbirds are kept as pets. They are highly valued for their beauty and singing ability,and owners enter them into songbird competitions in the hope of winning both social status and cashprizes. In certain parts of Indonesia, the ownership of a songbird is also considered a rite of passagefor young men.People who buy songbirds may care about any or all of these reasons. However, using economic modelling techniques conservationists can discover which motivations are the most pressing anddesign effective interventions to halt this trade. By understanding what drives people to buy wild species, we can figure out how best to stop them.An orchid enthusiast in China admires a dendrobium. AmyHinsley, Author provided

Five reasons people buy illegal wildlife products – and how to stop them

First paragraph: A British tourist on a tropical beach poses for a photo with a cute monkey-like animal. A Vietnamese man buys some rhino-horn powder and brags to his friends about its potency. An orchid collector admires their latest purchase, a stunning bright-pink flower, without worrying too much about where it came from

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/31685/1/Thomas-Walters-Hinsley-Ver%c3%adssimo-Conversation-2020.pdf

Five reasons people buy illegal wildlife products – and how to stop them

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