Human dimensions of biodiversity conservation: Wildlife trade, COVID-19 and geopolitics

Project Information

HUMAN-CONSERVATION

Grant agreement ID: 101107066

DOI

10.3030/101107066

Project terminated on 30 September 2024

EC signature date 14 July 2023

Start date 1 December 2023

End date 30 November 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 172 750,08

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HUMAN-CONSERVATION (Human dimensions of biodiversity conservation: Wildlife trade, COVID-19 and geopolitics)

Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2025-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The catastrophic global decline of biodiversity is one of the most pressing problems facing humanity. Effective conservation solutions must be informed by evidence. Conservation policy and practice historically relied solely on the natural sciences for guidance, but there is increasing recognition that considering the human dimensions of conservation is vital. These are complex and span diverse fields of classic and applied social sciences, and are particularly pertinent for problems which are inherently the result of human decisions and actions, such as wildlife trade. Wildlife trade is a major driver of biodiversity loss and a pathway for zoonotic disease transmission. Illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade is a significant threat, placing ~12,000 terrestrial vertebrate species (ca. one quarter of the total) at risk of extinction. Furthermore, the rising frequency of zoonotic epidemics and pandemics, including COVID-19, has highlighted the devastating human health consequences of wildlife consumption. Shifting global power structures and geopolitics add to the complexity of the challenges faced. Improved wildlife trade governance and environmental governance in biodiversity-rich areas is needed to manage zoonotic disease risks and implement integrated preventative approaches like One Health. How can wildlife trade governance address the challenges of our geopolitically polarized, post-pandemic world? The HUMAN-CONSERVATION project pursued two Research Objectives on the human dimensions of wildlife trade: i) enhance the implementation of CITES by investigating EU trends in the seizure of CITES-listed species used for medicinal purposes, and ii) investigate the implications of escalating geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region on global wildlife trade to improve global environmental governance. The results of the HUMAN-CONSERVATION project have immediate applications for informing wildlife trade policy, improving efforts to combat wildlife trafficking, and defining frontiers in conservation geopolitics. The research conducted in the HUMAN-CONSERVATION project will contribute to the promotion of responsible natural resource use (UN SDG#12) by improving CITES implementation and how wildlife trafficking is combatted in Europe. The scientific knowledge built here will also strengthen the resilience of state and global institutions to improve wildlife trade governance (UN SDG#16).

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Brief summary of work performed for exploration of common threads between Japan’s recent IWC withdrawal the current threat by ten SADC countries to withdraw from the CITES:
o Led international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Examined the dynamics of IWC and CITES with through inductive process tracing;
o Identified the common threads between these two cases: changing organizational ethos, polarization amongst members, influence of non-state actors, and loss of decidability for dissenting nations;
o Devised various options for structural reforms in CITES to restore decidability, enable equitability, and implement inclusive decision-making; and
o Wrote and submitted a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal.
Brief summary of work performed for assessing wildlife seizure trends in Europe using data from EU-TWIX database:
o Led international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Applied for and granted access to EU-TWIX data;
o Cleaned and analyzed the data to reveal trends relating to all medicinal wildlife product seizures across Europe since the EU-TWIX database was launched;
o Devised policy recommendations for CITES implementation and combatting wildlife trafficking in Europe; and
o Preparing a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
Brief summary of work performed for examining penalty disparities between wildlife and drug trafficking across 19 national jurisdictions in East and Southeast Asia:
o Leading international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Collecting and analyzing data on legal systems, national legislations, and case law;
o Preparing a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.
Brief summary of work performed to examine how complex social factors in an era of renewed great-power politics, particularly given the state of the intensifying US-China rivalry, has direct implications for environmental governance and biodiversity outcomes:
o Led international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Assessed the four mechanisms – competition, coercion, learning and emulation – of the classic model of policy diffusion theory in the context of environmental policymaking;
o Conducted a case study for each mechanism to illustrate how each can benefit biodiversity conservation, and point to examples of relevant policies and actions that could improve outcomes; and
o Published a peer-reviewed journal article.
Brief summary of work performed on China’s venue linking strategy to navigate the complex political dynamics in global environmental governance:
o Participated in international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Analyzed China’s strategic approach to advance its preferences vis-à-vis sea cucumber trade and conservation policy in multiple policy venues through inductive process tracing;
o Developed a new theory in international relations of venue linking; and
o Published a peer-reviewed journal article.
Brief summary of work performed on the ecological implications of DMZs:
o Leading international interdisciplinary collaboration;
o Investigating the legal framework of DMZs as a way out of armed conflict to a suspended state of stability and how these areas can create the conditions for area-based conservation and ecosystem restoration; and
o Preparing a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Research Objective: Enhance the implementation of CITES by investigating EU trends in the seizure of CITES-listed species used for medicinal purposes

The work undertaken in relation to this Research Objective began with an exploration of the structure, effectiveness, and challenges of CITES. Our study uncovered the common threads between Japan’s withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019 and the current threat being made by ten Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries to withdraw from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). These are: changing organizational ethos, polarization amongst members, influence of non-state actors, and loss of decidability for dissenting nations. We were able to take critical lessons from Japan’s IWC withdrawal to propose various options for much-needed structural reforms in CITES to restore decidability, enable equitability, and implement inclusive decision-making. Further work undertaken as part of WP2 in relation to this Research Objective involved accessing and analyzing data from the EU Trade in Wildlife Information Exchange (EU-TWIX) database to investigate European trends in seizures of medicinal wildlife products against the backdrop of rising complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use. Preliminary analysis showed that total annual seizures of medicinal wildlife contraband in Europe trended upwards from 2005-2018, though dropped to below half of peak levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further international collaborative work related to this Research Objective is ongoing to examine penalty disparities between wildlife and drug trafficking across 19 national jurisdictions in East and Southeast Asia, a major hotspot for wildlife trade with significant trade route linkages to and from the EU.

Research Objective: Investigate the implications of escalating geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region on global wildlife trade to improve global environmental governance

We first examined how complex social factors in an era of renewed great-power politics, particularly given the state of the intensifying US-China rivalry, has direct implications for environmental governance and biodiversity outcomes. Through international collaboration, our research activities explored the four mechanisms – competition, coercion, learning and emulation – of the classic model of policy diffusion theory in the context of environmental policymaking. We explored a case study for each mechanism to illustrate how it can benefit biodiversity conservation, and point to examples of relevant policies and actions that could improve outcomes. Further work in relation to this Research Objective built upon existing studies on institutional change and negotiation strategy to highlight two aspects of a venue-linking framework in China's approach to sea cucumber management, including the institutional settings enabling countries to deploy such a strategy in environmental negotiations and the actors’ capacity to seize the opportunity. This study offered new empirical insights into how China navigates the complex political dynamics in global environmental governance when multiple policy venues with overlapping jurisdictions are involved. Further international collaborative work was also undertaken to define frontiers in the emerging field of conservation geopolitics and build interdisciplinary partnerships to support conservation through an exploration of the ecological implications of demilitarized zones (DMZ).