Stop the Killing, Stop the Trafficking, Stop the Demand… Wildlife Trade in Asia – building an effective framework for WCS engagement For discussion Asia Program, May 2013

Wildlife trade is the largest single threat to WCS Scapes and Species globally Rhino horn: 2011: Javan Rhino (Vn Subsp), Northern White Rhino, Western Black Rhino all considered extinct due to over-hunting Massive poaching surge in Africa of Rhinos (448 in 2011, and now an average of 10/week) driven by Asian hunters, traders and consumers Tigers: “100 tigers killed/year” TRAFFIC Indian NPs losing all tigers Ivory: MIKE/ETIS ““MIKE data suggest an ongoing increase in levels of illegal killing of elephants since 2006, with 2011 displaying the highest levels of poaching since MIKE records began” “record levels of ivory were seized and sustained throughout the period 2009 to 2011 ” “2011 ended with more large-scale ivory seizures than any previous year in the ETIS data” “Data from the ETIS show a steady increase in levels of illicit ivory trade from 2004 onwards, with a major upsurge in 2009, and 2011 emerging as the worst year ever for large ivory seizures.” Wild meat: Over 80% of restaurants in the Ho Chi Minh metropolis in Southern Vietnam were found to be selling wildlife meat Reptile trade: An illegal wildlife trade network identified by WCS investigations was found to be transporting 1-2 shipments/month of up to 6000 live, wild-caught reptiles from Southeast Asian countries to China including protected and endangered species of turtle

Our definition of wildlife trade encompasses the full trade chain, from poaching to selling "Everything from the moment an animal is caught in a forest in Thailand or Gabon to its final point of consumption when it ends up on plate in Guangzhou or in a shop in New York." Includes the act of hunting where the demand is from “outside”, including restaurants in the vicinity of a protected area that serve wild meat to an urban clientele, but excludes any form of “subsistence hunting” for local sale or consumption by local communities.

Our goal in addressing wildlife trade At our core we remain committed to the conservation of WCS Species and Scapes and so our wildlife trade related conservation goal is: to directly support the long-term conservation of WCS Scapes and/or Species through significantly reducing illegal trade in and demand for wildlife and related products in Asia.

international borders, Wildlife trade chain from poaching to sale - key levels where we aim to intervene Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Poaching Criminal networks Global transport Picture Sales Core Protected Areas Towns and villages in and around Scapes where middlemen buy and sell wildlife Where trade flows converge - international borders, ports, airports Urban areas where products are sold to consumers Poaching: One of the Cameroon Elephants Landscape: Hunters in Myanmar I think! Choke point: Ka Long port in Mong Cai Sales: Shenzhen TCM market At which of these levels does WCS currently have impact? Significant impact Some impact Isolated impact Limited impact

Stop the Killing Level 1 - The Site Poaching Core Protected Areas Poaching: One of the Cameroon Elephants Landscape: Hunters in Myanmar I think! Choke point: Ka Long port in Mong Cai Sales: Shenzhen TCM market Development of SMART a tool to help site managers better manage ranger enforcement patrols

Stop the Trafficking Level 2 - The Landscape Criminal networks Towns and villages in and around scapes where middlemen buy and sell wildlife Poaching: One of the Cameroon Elephants Landscape: Hunters in Myanmar I think! Choke point: Ka Long port in Mong Cai Sales: Shenzhen TCM market Creating local civil society partnerships to pioneer intelligence lead Wildlife Crime Units across Sumatra, Indonesia

Stop the Trafficking Level 3 - The transport nodes Global transport Where trade flows converge - international borders, ports, airports Poaching: One of the Cameroon Elephants Landscape: Hunters in Myanmar I think! Choke point: Ka Long port in Mong Cai Sales: Shenzhen TCM market Working with law enforcement partners to demonstrate “crime convergence” at a key Vietnamese border crossing

Stop the Demand Level 4 - The end points Sales Urban areas where products are sold to consumers Poaching: One of the Cameroon Elephants Landscape: Hunters in Myanmar I think! Choke point: Ka Long port in Mong Cai Sales: Shenzhen TCM market Using online social media tools in China to increase awareness of ivory trade issues

Wildlife trade chain from poaching to sale – Developing a coordinated response Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point But these are on the whole isolated initiatives, managed at a country level without any regional coordination for sharing information and experiences, fundraising, or demonstrating the scale of our impacts. This continues to hinder our success, our potential to fundraise and our ability to engage with appropriate partners. The trade chains of many of our Scapes and Species are coordinated by a relatively small network of criminals across the region, but our response is poorly coordinated and patchy. We require a coordinated response to a coordinated threat. We envisage this to be realised through the identification of a series of coordinated interventions at the above scales along identified wildlife trade chains, from site to end point, developed specifically for individual Scapes and Species.

Wildlife trade chain from poaching to sale, an example – Elephants and the ivory trade from Africa to Asia ?

Breaking the Trade Chain… Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point To disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks maintaining the trade chain we aim to pioneer new approaches, and strengthen and scale-up, existing, successful approaches as follows:

Strengthen enforcement capacity Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Strengthen enforcement capacity: Provide training, awareness raising and support to front-line enforcement staff to increase capacity to detect, deter and respond to wildlife crime. Institutionalizing training programs into the curricula of key agencies New technology for enforcement officers eg identification apps

Improve efficiency of the legal process Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Improve efficiency of the legal process: Provide training, awareness-raising and support to judiciary, prosecutors, media. 1. Training programs focused on the above based on the model of the Indonesian WCU WCU Indonesia successful prosecution ratio, against a national background of 5%

Promote new partnerships Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Build new partnerships: Form and facilitate new key partnerships both nationally and internationally to improve information flow into global law enforcement networks. Formation of a WCS wildlife trade practitioner network, first regionally, then globally Non traditional agencies – military, customs etc Global agencies – UNODC, WCO, DHS

Improve information and evidence gathering Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Improve information gathering: Supply and increase capacity in better use of information gathering techniques and investigative tools. Training in professional investigative techniques Use of professional intelligence analysis software eg i2 Forensic tools eg ivory DNA

Increase government and private sector commitment Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Scale up through increasing government and private sector commitment Crime convergence approaches and synergies with other illegal activities International trade agreements as levers for action (TPP, ASEAN+3 FTA etc) Engaging major freight carriers and airlines

Increase public commitment Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Scale up through increasing public commitment Chinese social media platforms to increase public awareness and calls for action, and long-term reduce demand

Increase transparency and accountability Stop the Killing Stop the Trafficking Stop the Demand Site Landscape Transport nodes End point Increase transparency and accountability: Establish monitoring systems to report and evaluate law enforcement performance and results. SMART Wildlife Crime DataBase Occupancy survey methodologies

In each activity we will measure effectiveness and hold ourselves accountable Key indicators Enforcement capacity Increased enforcement rate response and case initiation ratios Efficiency of legal process Increased arrest, prosecution and sentencing ratios Building partnerships Increased amount of information submitted and exchanged between partners Information gathering Increased number of wildlife crimes detected Govt and private sector commitment Appropriate policies and regulations adopted and enforced Public commitment Targeted opinion-mapping Transparency and accountability Increased use of rigorous monitoring systems for adaptive management

Making it happen, what is required… We believe the approach outlined in the framework above will allow us to: Have short-term impact today on the Scapes and Species we care about by disrupting and dismantling illegal wildlife trade networks that involve relatively small groups of individuals. Have disproportionate long-term impact tomorrow by increasing commitment from both public and government , and allowing scaling up of successful models regionally and globally. To do this we will require: A long-term WCS ground-level commitment to the “trade chains approach”. Bringing in new expertise (eg. criminal intelligence and investigation, social media etc). Leveraging significant political support. Leveraging significant new financial resources.