Eradicating the Market for Illegal Wildlife Products: Theory of change/ lessons learned— a two-pronged approach Dr. Susan Lieberman Vice-President, International Policy Wildlife Conservation Society

Illegal wildlife trade comes in many shapes and sizes—and no country or region is exempt

Illegal trade comes in many shapes and sizes….. 3

Markets for illegally traded wildlife: Theory of change What is a market for illegal wildlife? Two-pronged approach to eradicating markets Changing consumer behavior Regulating or closing markets ANY actions must be science/data based, strategic, and measurable

Changing Consumer Behavior: Theory of change Moving beyond awareness John Scanlon, Twitter: “Public awareness without behavioural change is just entertainment” Must study and understand the market(s), motivations, demographics, influencers Must be able to measure effectiveness, and market changes Testing of assumptions Cultural awareness and specificity

Consumers/ social media Demand reduction—Behavior change Example: Working in China on a multi-pronged social media strategy

Are consumers listening?

Regulating/Closing Markets: Theory of change Legislation, regulations Regulating legal markets (e.g. crocodilian skins) vs closure of all markets for a product (e.g. ivory, rhino horn, shahtoosh) Effective enforcement is critical “Laws without enforcement are just recommendations”

Government actions, or inaction are important drivers to changing traditional consumptive behavior

Ivory market issues: international & domestic What is an ivory market? Domestic vs international Why close markets? Why not? Intergovernmental decisions/outcomes IUCN World Conservation Congress CITES CoP17

Massive poaching and ivory trafficking continue Global ivory trade is a runaway process. As long as ivory can be sold, there will be poaching. Powerful economic forces, corruption, organized crime There are no separate markets—they are interconnected NEED TO CLOSE ALL MARKETS

RESULTS: CLOSING IVORY MARKETS “The United States and China commit to enact nearly complete bans on ivory import and export….” September 25, 2015 USG published its final rule establishing a US Ivory Ban (June 2016) China announced it will have a plan to close domestic ivory markets by end of 2016 (June 2016)

Outcome of US Wildlife Trafficking Strategy

IUCN Congress Sept. 1-10, 2016 & Ivory Markets Held every 4 years Adopted 106 policy motions Motion 007 ADOPTED: “Closure of domestic markets for elephant ivory” Final vote: Governments 84%; NGOs 91% URGES the governments of countries in which there is a legal domestic market for elephant ivory, or any domestic commerce in elephant ivory, to make all necessary legislative and regulatory efforts to close their domestic markets for commercial trade in raw or worked elephant ivory; 14

Resolutions/Decisions adopted: Closure of domestic ivory markets and ivory markets Resolutions/Decisions adopted: Closure of domestic ivory markets National Ivory Action Plans Ivory stockpile management Decision-making mechanism for re-opening ivory trade (ended) 15

Market closures vs market regulation Lessons learned Depends on: Governance, rule of law, degree of corruption Enforcement actions Successful prosecutions with deterrent penalties Accountability Communications 16

THANK YOU Dr. Susan Lieberman slieberman@wcs.org     Dr. Susan Lieberman WCS VP, International Policy slieberman@wcs.org