Report exposes Asian wildlife trade

20 November 2008

The trade and movement of wildlife in south-east Asia is the subject of a major report co-authored by BU’s Professor Adrian Newton.

Professor Adrian Newton, from our School of Conservation Sciences, has helped to tackle Asia’s illegal wildlife trade, by contributing to a global report entitled ‘What’s Driving the Wildlife Trade?’.

More than 80 experts linked to the wildlife trade in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Vietnam were consulted for the report which exposes the extent of the problem of illegal trade in south-east Asia.

Working in collaboration with the World Bank and TRAFFIC – the wildlife trade monitoring network – Professor Newton and his fellow researchers focused on trade considered illegal and unsustainable.

The report highlights the importance of enforcing existing regulatory trade controls, including regulating harvest and trade, increasing consumer awareness and providing alternative sources of income for people depending on illegal wildlife trade.

It also identifies that a number of highly-effective measures are not often used, including the certification of wildlife and other market-based approaches, support for local tenure agreements and some traditional practices.

"Clearly the issue of what drives illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade is a complex one," said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC.

"This study will greatly assist those involved in conservation efforts in south-east Asia to improve the targeting and design of efforts to reduce illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade.

“A key issue emerging from the study is that while there was a clear agreement that many traded wildlife species have declined substantially as a result of over-exploitation, there is less consensus about the most effective ways to address these declines," Broad concluded.

> View the report online (links to the TRAFFIC website)