1. What are the prospects for ‘follow-the-money’ methodologies in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade?
Presentation by Dr Annette Hübschle, University of Cape Town
 4th ESAAMLG AML/CFT PUBLIC-PRIVATE SECTOR DIALOGUE (PPSD) 

2. Structure of my presentation
Brief research background
Choreography of an illegal hunt
Structure of illegal wildlife economies
The role of illicit finance and money laundering
What are the prospects for ‘follow-the-money’ methodologies?

3. Research background and data points
20 years of applied policy research on organized crime research in southern and East Africa
PhD on the illicit rhino horn economy – ‘A game of horns’
Consultant on the ESAAMLG study on typologies of poaching, wildlife trafficking and related financial flows
Research project: A study of illegal and legal wildlife economies, associated markets, their leverage points and enrolments 
Ongoing research into licit wildlife ranching industry in South Africa
Research grant on ‘follow the thing’
Baseline study on wildlife poisoning in the GLTP

4. What happens during an illegal rhino hunt?

5. Organized rhino crime Source: Stop Rhino Poaching

6. Illegal flows (Source: Focus Africa)

7. Who is missing along the value chain?
Diplomats, government officials, law enforcers
Transport sector
Wildlife and hunting industry
NGOs and conservation organisations
Private security & military companies
Financial and banking sector
Local communities

8. Legal wildlife markets
Live animals (CITES permits)
Trophies from legally wildlife
Pre-Convention animal parts (tusks and horns)
Legitimate “fakes” (museums, galleries and art collections)
Antique art works

9. Grey markets Grey markets Flouting of regulatory determinations
Pseudo-hunting
Trade exchanges (e.g. horns for animals)
Exploitation of loopholes
Round-tripping
Identification of unregulated/undetermined terrain
Fakes including zuo jiu (to make old)
Art collections and investment portfolios

10. Stolen wildlife products
Illegal markets
Poached wildlife
Stolen wildlife products
Fake products

11. Wildlife economy
Illegal market
Grey market
Legal market

12. Embedded markets Wildlife economy Hunting markets Tourism
Transport markets
Consumer markets
Art markets
Banking and financial services
Luxury goods
Farming
Security
Arms markets
Paraphernalia for consumption
Forgeries
Organized crime

13. Current responses to illegal wildlife trade in the region
Law enforcement measures are targeted at poachers
Militarization of anti-poaching responses & framing of a “war on poaching”
No or limited attention to “white collar” crime & illicit money and arms flows
Historical lock-in/path dependency of conservation & wildlife crime paradigms
continued exclusion of local and indigenous peoples
fences and fines

14. Prospects for ‘follow-the-money’ methodologies: Key issues to consider
Poachers are not self-funded – who are the intermediaries, funders and organizers?
Be careful of red herrings such as the ‘poacher as terrorist’ narrative
Focus on charismatic megafauna (rhinos & elephants) problematic: plant blindness & illicit collection of small species just as detrimental (giant bronze gecko & ‘love nuts’)
Law enforcement operates in silos and seldom across borders – ‘winner takes it all’ instead of controlled deliveries or ’follow-the-thing’
Role of trade exchanges and cashless transactions

15. Prospects for ‘follow-the-money’ methodologies: Key issues to consider (cont.)
Displacement, layering and diversification of transnational criminal networks
The role of public and private sector corruption along the supply chain?
Role of arms and ammunition industries
What about the military-industrial complex? Anti-poaching & military companies
The role of Western NGOs and conservation organizations & donor drives
What about the demand and consumer profiles? Careful of xenophobia and stigmatizing Asians or certain nationalities within the region

16. Available for free download:
content/uploads/2018/08/TGIATOC-Wildlife- Trafficking-Report-WEB-4.pdf

17. Design principles for disrupting the illegal trade in wildlife
Render live wildlife more valuable than dead ones to local communities
Establish inclusive, not exclusive, institutions
Regulatory interventions should entail positive outcomes for local communities
Change the flow of money from interventions that support anti-poaching to interventions that support communities that live with wildlife
Apply follow-the-money methodologies to track illicit activities associated with IWT and linked protection economies (Who is funding the wildlife protectors?)
Cross-agency and regional collaborations are key
Render IWT a high-risk low profit activity – not to the poachers but to their backers
When you strike a woman, you strike a rock
Ubuntu: a person can only be a person through others

18. Many thanks for listening
Annette Hübschle, PhD