Malta is renowned as a “blackspot” for illegal bird hunting. This article describes Malta’s current enforcement efforts which, assisted by the Army, and surveillance technology such as drones, and have likely led to a reduction in crime. However, this article also describes how current conservation policies are being counterproductive. They are fostering a culture of … [Read more…]
We often think of extinction as happening out there, in far away wild places, but it also takes place right inside our minds, in our everyday conversations and on social media. Beyond biological extinction, which takes place when the last animal or plant of its kind dies, species can live on in our collective memory, … [Read more…]
I recently wrote a book review for the journal Conservation Biology, focused on the two books below: The Wicked Problem of Forest Policy: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Sustainability in Forest Landscapes. Nikolakis W., and J. L. Innes, editors. 2020. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. x + 400 pp. ISBN 978-1-108-47140-4. Sustainable Governance of Wildlife and Community Based … [Read more…]
What do consumers of a wildlife product do when a market closes? We mostly have no clue. Today we had a paper published on the intentions of bear bile consumers to the closing of the market in Vietnam. We sampled at seven areas across the country of Vietnam (total respondents = 2,463). We found low … [Read more…]
Online crowdfunding can help address the perennial financial shortfalls in environmental conservation and management. Although many online crowdfunding campaigns fail to collect any funds due to not achieving their targets, little is known about what drives success. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a mixed-methods approach to data from 473 successful and failed campaigns … [Read more…]
New article out today on Conservation Science and Practice: Investigating the international and pan‐African trade in giraffe parts and derivatives. Here we review the evidence and interview experts about giraffe trade, concluding in the end that ” the dynamics of legal and illegal trade and the use of giraffe parts vary throughout Africa, ranging from … [Read more…]
This NEW paper in Animal Conservation looks at the trade-offs made by people in China across rural and urban areas when it comes to the use of trophy hunting. Download it here! The use of trophy hunting as a wildlife management option has been a highly controversial topic, especially in southern Africa, but trophy hunting … [Read more…]
For many researchers, particularly in academia, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a necessity, with major implications for their career progression. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that the current scientific publishing model is not fair and equitable, which can have severe consequences for the way science is accessed and used in nature conservation. We evaluated the … [Read more…]
We recently published a paper on the effective use of consumer research methods to inform demand management interventions, based on work carried out in São Tomé and Principe regarding sea turtle meat and eggs. The full text can be found here, but we have a variety of other formats we are using to disseminate our … [Read more…]
I was lucky to be involved in a paper was published last week around the ethical challenges of doing social science in a biodiversity conservation context. It was great to have a space for early career researchers to reflect on this much neglected issue. Abstract below. Full text HERE! Social science is becoming increasingly important … [Read more…]