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Making a killing or making a living? Wildlife trade, trade controls and rural livelihoods

Many rural households in developing countries depend heavily on wild resources, for both subsistence use and income generation through trade. However, there are many regulations – enshrined in national legislation and international agreements – which restrict trade in certain wildlife species both within and across national boundaries.

A study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, found that despite the dependence of many rural populations on wildlife, few attempts have been made to investigate the effects that restricting trade in wildlife can have on local livelihoods.

Field research in the East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania showed a mixture of positive and negative monetary and non-monetary implications of wildlife access and trade regulations at local, national and international levels. However, there appears to be significant potential to modify existing processes to take greater account of livelihood issues in wildlife trade decisions. This would reflect the evolution in thinking that has taken place between the agreement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973 and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) two decades later.

The literature review undertaken for this study demonstrated clearly that documentation of the local significance of international trade in wild species is poor, often anecdotal and generally site-specific. It is therefore difficult to make summary judgements regarding the importance of international trade in wildlife products to local livelihoods. This is especially true for wild species covered by CITES, as these species are frequently not widespread, abundant and/or highly used relative to many other wild species of commercial value (e.g. rattans and palms) and therefore are poorly studied from a socio-economic standpoint. Given the lack of information on the livelihood contributions of wild species in trade, it comes as no surprise that documentation of the impact of related international trade measures is even worse.

The study suggests a number of actions to modify existing processes to take into account livelihood issues in wildlife trade decisions, including:

sensitising the CITES ‘community’ and consumers to the livelihood issues associated with the international wildlife trade
modifying CITES decision-making processes to include consideration of socio-economic factors related to wildlife harvest and trade
avoiding blanket bans on trade without taking into account the differing status of national populations and management regimes
expanding the linkages between implementation of CITES and the CBD
increasing capacity for intensive management to increase production (e.g. ranching, enrichment planting, captive breeding, cultivation, etc.) within range states where this would benefit conservation and livelihoods.

Attention is drawn to the need to consider the wider lessons being learned through projects aimed at certification, non-timber forest product (NTFP) development, community-based wildlife management programmes, and other efforts directed towards linking wildlife conservation and rural development.

Source(s):
‘Making a Killing or Making a Living: Wildlife Trade, Trade Controls and Rural Livelihoods’, IIED Biodiversity and Livelihoods Issues No 6. London, IIED, by D. Roe, T. Mulliken, S. Milledge, J. Mremi, S. Mosha and M. Greig-Gran, 2002 Full document.

Funded by: DFID Social Science Research Unit

id21 Research Highlight: 25 July 2002

Further Information:
Dilys Roe
Senior Research Associate
Biodiversity and Livelihoods Group
IIED
3 Endsleigh Street
London WC1H 0DD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 2117
Fax: +44 (0)20 7388 2826
Contact the contributor: dilys.roe@iied.org

Biodiversity and Livelihoods Group, IIED, UK

Teresa Mulliken
Research and Policy Co-ordinator
TRAFFIC International
219c Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL
UK

Tel: +44 (0)223 277 427
Fax: +44 (0)223 277 237
Contact the contributor: teresa.mulliken@trafficint.org

TRAFFIC

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