1. 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

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

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

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. Are consumers listening?

8. 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”

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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)

13. Outcome of US Wildlife Trafficking Strategy

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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