Understanding Urban Demand for Wild Meat in Vietnam: Implications for Conservation Actions

Vietnam is a significant consumer of wildlife, particularly wild meat, in urban restaurant settings. To meet this demand, poaching of wildlife is widespread, threatening regional and international biodiversity. Previous interventions to tackle illegal and potentially unsustainable consumption of wild meat in Vietnam have generally focused on limiting supply. While critical, they have been impeded by a lack of resources, the presence of increasingly organised criminal networks and corruption. Attention is, therefore, turning to the consumer, but a paucity of research investigating consumer demand for wild meat will impede the creation of effective consumer-centred interventions. Here we used a mixed-methods research approach comprising a hypothetical choice modelling survey and qualitative interviews to explore the drivers of wild meat consumption and consumer preferences among residents of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Our findings indicate that demand for wild meat is heterogeneous and highly context specific. Wild-sourced, rare, and expensive wild meat-types are eaten by those situated towards the top of the societal hierarchy to convey wealth and status and are commonly consumed in lucrative business contexts. Cheaper, legal and farmed substitutes for wild-sourced meats are also consumed, but typically in more casual consumption or social drinking settings. We explore the implications of our results for current conservation interventions in Vietnam that attempt to tackle illegal and potentially unsustainable trade in and consumption of wild meat and detail how our research informs future consumer-centric conservation actions

Winners and losers from trophy hunting bans

Bans on trophy hunting or the movement of trophies are increasingly proposed as ‘wins’ for conservation. However, trophy hunting is a complex and contentious topic, and proposed bans involve considerable trade-offs — including conservation and welfare risks. Here, we briefly outline some of the trade-offs that deserve deeper consideration

Understanding markets to conserve CITES-listed species

The authors note that historical responses to the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife have been predominantly regulatory, relying largely on the implementation of CITES. However, these supply-centric approaches have at best had mixed effectiveness, while CITES largely disregards the economic reality of wildlife trade in implementation terms. In this chapter, the authors examine the outcome of CITES policies on the trade and conservation of pangolins (Manis spp.) in Asia, specifically an Appendix II listing, inclusion in multiple phases of the Review of Significant Trade process, and a proposed transfer to Appendix I at CoP11 in 2000. They argue that reforms to this supply-centric approach are needed urgently, and which should include an explicit and in-depth understanding of consumer demand factors, and changing market dynamics (e.g., rapidly increasing demand, rising prices)

Playing the CITES game: Lessons on global conservation governance from African megafauna

Growing awareness and concern over environmental issues has been accompanied by a proliferation of international environmental agreements during the last half‐century. Among these, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), stands out as one of the oldest and strongest influences on global biodiversity conservation policy. However, the effectiveness of CITES has been questioned—for various reasons and from various quarters—with a range of differing opinions. To provide further insight on this issue we drew from and built upon recent advances in the environmental governance literature to develop an approach to analysing how the CITES‐centred wildlife trading regime influences actor behaviour. After developing a rule‐categorised framework to analyse the structure of the treaty, we conducted dynamic analysis of actor behaviour using case study material on CITES‐listed African megafauna species (elephants, rhinoceroses, and lions), examining recent developments over a five‐year period (2016–2020). Drawing on this material, we further applied institutional diagnostics to gain insight into the conservation effectiveness of the CITES regime. Our analysis of these case studies suggests that CITES can be gamed by special interest groups and that its institutional design facilitates the evolution of an international prohibition regime. Our research produces novel insights into the operation of this process and raises concerns about consequences for African biodiversity conservation. We conclude with recommendations for wildlife trade policy reform and further research

COVID ‐related changes in public attitudes toward wildlife consumption on a Chinese social media site

Wildlife consumption in China has been relatively common, which has led to a substantial wildlife farming industry and caused concern among some conservationists. The assumed link between COVID‐19 and wildlife consumption attracted significant public attention and led to a change in wildlife management policies in China. However, it is unclear how the Chinese public perceives wildlife consumption and whether they are supportive of the wildlife management policies introduced. We collected and analyzed 488,016 posts from a prominent Chinese social media site—Weibo—from September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020. Our results suggest that during our study period, COVID‐19 dramatically altered people's attitudes toward wildlife consumption; following the emergence of the pandemic, posts spiked and overwhelmingly called for a stop to wildlife consumption. We selected pangolins, bats, wild pigs, and snakes for in‐depth analysis, where disease and conservation were the top themes discussed. When the wildlife consumption ban in China was introduced in February 2020, the majority of Weibo users supported it. However, not all users did, including those concerned about the wildlife farming industry and those questioning the link between COVID‐19 and wildlife consumption. Users also discussed traditional Chinese medicine, including its impacts on wildlife consumption, conservation, and medical efficacy. Our results indicated that understanding public sentiment is useful for evaluating support for conservation policies and interventions

Assessing a reverse approach to traded species protection

Growing concern over the scale of unregulated wildlife trade has led to calls for fundamental changes to systems of species protection. A proposed “reverse listing” approach would ban the harvest and trade of all wild species, except those for which trade can be demonstrated to be sustainable. We evaluate the feasibility of this approach on an international scale and discuss policy solutions. Adopting reverse listing would not be straightforward; key issues include the social legitimacy of resulting laws, ensuring effective law enforcement, and the treatment of trade from alternative (i.e., non-wild) sources. Reverse listing is not a panacea for protecting biodiversity from overexploitation, and a combination of approaches is needed to effectively regulate the world’s wildlife trade

A theory of change to improve conservation outcomes through CITES

Understanding the effectiveness of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) is critical to addressing international environmental issues. Here we articulate the implied theory of change (ToC) underpinning the design and operation of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), based on an analysis of the Convention’s documented evolution. We use this as a framework to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the Convention, with respect to its stated aims, using a range of theoretical and empirical insights. Although achieving success in various ways, CITES is proving ineffective at deterring illegal and/or unsustainable exploitation of many listed species for international trade, which we attribute to implementation and compliance issues and the Convention’s design, including a principal focus on deterrence through state-led law enforcement. Informed by this analysis we develop a modified ToC which could support more effective implementation of CITES. This ToC is intended for application at the species level and incorporates an in-depth examination of the social-ecological systems (SESs) within which species are harvested, used, and traded. This species-system ToC explicitly considers formal and informal institutions, and the use of institutional diagnostics to inform potential revisions to institutional arrangements along supply chains. We argue that taking this approach when considering whether and how to implement trade measures under CITES could enhance the effectiveness of these measures in reducing overexploitation and support legal, traceable, and more ecologically and socially sustainable international trade in wild species. Finally, we highlight the role that CITES could play in the broader global biodiversity governance regime; better alignment with other relevant MEAs could lead to more effective biodiversity conservation overall

Designing celebrity‐endorsed behavioral interventions in conservation

The use of celebrity endorsement in environmental conservation interventions aiming to influence human behavior has increased in recent decades. Although good practice in designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioral interventions is outlined in recent publications, guidance on developing conservation interventions with celebrity endorsement remains limited. To fill this gap, we devised a guide for decision‐making relating to celebrity‐endorsed behavioral interventions based on the behavioral, project design, and celebrity endorsement literatures. The guide advises conducting research to understand the behavior system in question; defining endorser selection models and celebrities based on the research; developing an endorsement strategy with the appropriate communication channels; testing the celebrity, channels, and strategy with the target audience and making adjustments as needed; and, finally, evaluating the intervention after implementation. We applied this strategy to a case study, the aim of which was to design a celebrity‐endorsed intervention to reduce consumption of wild meat in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Following our guide, we found that employing evidence‐based decision‐making substantially enhanced our ability to understand the complexity and potential cost associated with using celebrity endorsements in behavioral interventions

Incentivizing pangolin conservation: decisions at CITES CoP19 may reduce conservation options for pangolins

The policy direction for pangolins in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is increasingly prohibitionist but may be suboptimal for conserving the species. Effective pangolin conservation requires critical consideration of diverse and adaptive management approaches, which consider incentives for key actors, potentially including the sustainable use and domestic trade of white- and/or black-bellied pangolins. Restricting potential policy options for pangolins in CITES may obstruct optimal national policies by removing a potential tool from the toolbox, one that could favor pangolin conservation and not their overexploitation

The emergence of a commercial trade in pangolins from Gabon

Recent seizures of illegally-held wildlife indicate a mounting global trade in pangolins involving all eight species. Seizures of illegally-traded African pangolins are increasing as wild populations of Asian species decline. We investigated trade in pangolins and law enforcement efforts in Gabon; a country likely to have intact wild populations of three of the four species of African pangolin. We compared village sales and trade chains between 2002-3 and 2014. Hunters reported pangolins to be the most frequently requested species in 2014 and the value of pangolins had increased at every point along their trade chain. In Libreville, giant pangolin prices increased 211% and arboreal pangolin prices 73% whilst inflation rose only 4.6% over the same period. We documented a low rate of interception of illegally-traded pangolins despite increased law enforcement. Surveys of potential export routes detected exports across forest borders, in conjunction with ivory, but not through public transport routes. We conclude that whilst there is clear potential and ikelihood that a wild pangolin export trade is emerging from Gabon, traditional bushmeat trade chains may not be the primary supply route. We recommend adjusting conservation policies and actions to impede further development of illegal trade within and from Gabon