1. Communities, sustainable livelihoods, and Illegal Wildlife Trade:
what are we doing, and where are we going?
Rosie Cooney
IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi) /

2. Support community voice
Enable and promote retention of benefits from conservation/wildlife
Promote sustainable livelihoods
Community inclusion in law enforcement approaches
Increase understanding on communities and IWT

3. 1. support community voice – what’s happening?
National forums (Namibia/Cambodia)
bring together different stakeholders, including communities
National community representative/communications structures
NACSO in Namibia
South Africa – Rhino Ambassadors/Champions/Rangers
Field level involvement
China
New approaches to engage
Central VN – use of innovative social media platforms
Reinforce the voice of local people as key stakeholders in discussions and decision making around IWT (locally, nationally, internationally), to increase effectiveness and equity

4. 1. support community voice – looking ahead?
communities not homogeneous!
how do you hear the voices of women, the poorest, ethnic minorities?
how do you create “safe spaces” where communities can speak freely?
power imbalances, language, knowledge, concerns
Reinforce the voice of local people as key stakeholders in discussions and decision making around IWT (locally, nationally, internationally), to increase effectiveness and equity

5. 2. Enable and promote retention of benefits from conservation/wildlife – what’s happening?
Mexico, others: recognition of role of legal use
South Africa/Namibia: established and new programs for conservation based on the wildlife economy/CBNRM
TRAFFIC: supporting benefits from SU of NTFPs – esp. medicinal plants – utilising market tools such as certification (FairWild)
WWF Mekong: supporting ability to benefit from tourism, including strengthening private sector links
Ethiopia: drawing lessons from Namibia – benefits from trophy hunting/tourism and equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms
Increase the incentives for local people to conserve wildlife (rather than poach), through supporting and enhancing the rights and capacities of local people to manage and benefit from wildlife
Strengthen enabling policy and legislative frameworks needed to support the retention of community benefits

6. 2. Enable and promote retention of benefits from conservation/wildlife – looking ahead
need stronger recognition in policy (all levels) of the potential for sustainable use to provide incentives for protection against IWT
need better recognition (national level) of customary tenure and use rights of communities
need policy frameworks that supportive enabling relationships between private sector and communities
Increase the incentives for local people to conserve wildlife (rather than poach), through supporting and enhancing the rights and capacities of local people to manage and benefit from wildlife
Strengthen enabling policy and legislative frameworks needed to support the retention of community benefits

7. 3. Promote sustainable livelihoods (not based on wildlife) – looking ahead
Providing alternative incomes doesn’t necessarily decrease poaching for IWT – often target the wrong people or poaching continues alongside the “alternative” incomes
Increase capacity of local communities to pursue sustainable livelihood opportunities that reduce the incentive to poach or support poaching

8. 4. Community inclusion in law enforcement approaches - what’s happening?
Different approaches to arming communities
Karen in Myanmar: communities armed and very effective
USAID/Namibia: build trust between communities and law enforcement – so communities provide information, can rely on armed backup
Viet Nam: where little trust within community, may want enforcement to be done by state agencies
Motivations
South Africa: Black Mambas self-motivated – to protect “their” wildlife
Develop approaches to monitoring and law enforcement around wildlife areas that engage local communities as motivated and active partners

9. 4. Community inclusion in law enforcement approaches - where to now?
Building trust between communities and law enforcement is challenging, especially where history of dispossession of land for protected areas
South Africa: co-management structures can provide basis for cooperation
Addressing underlying poverty/livelihoods needs is essential
Governments need to listen and respond to communities, and engage strongly at inter-governmental level to stop trafficking/demand for IWT products
Develop approaches to monitoring and law enforcement around wildlife areas that engage local communities as motivated and active partners

10. 5. Increase understanding on communities and IWT
South Africa – building community understanding of the role of wildlife and need for wildlife conservation, and understanding in government of community perspectives/priorities
Beyond Enforcement work – IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi), TRAFFIC, IIED and local partners – aim to continue globally and build into field level approaches
Establish, facilitate, and support information sharing mechanisms, to develop knowledge, expertise, best practice on involving local people in combating IWT

11. Overall messages No one size fits all!
Before we do any anti-IWT intervention, need to understand real community perspectives and priorities (when you ask communities what the issues are, often completely different to what you expect)
COMMUNITY VOICE!