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Curbing Illegal Wildlife Trade: the Role of Social Network Analysis Working Paper 5 (July 2016)

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Curbing Illegal Wildlife Trade: the Role of Social Network Analysis Working Paper 5 (July 2016) The Social Science for Conservation Fellowship Programme Working Paper Series Curbing Illegal Wildlife Trade: The Role of Social Network Analysis Working Paper 5 (July 2016) Kyle Leann Clifton Dr Archi Rastogi Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Senior Advisor, IUCN’s Social Science for Texas A&M University Conservation Fellowship [email protected] [email protected] Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank Amitaksha Nag and Rosie Cooney, who provided us with valuable feedback and inputs during the preparation of this report. We also thank our colleagues on the Social Science for Conservation Fellowship, who provided critical review to assist in the development of this paper. Most importantly, we thank Alison Greenberg, Gernot Brodnig, and other colleagues at the IUCN for their consistent support and motivation during the Fellowship period. About the SSCFP Working Papers SSCFP’s Working Paper Series presents research on the unique perspectives, methodologies and approaches that the social sciences can bring to understanding and addressing the underlying and proximate drivers of habitat destruction and overexploitation of species in The Anthropocene. The goal of the Working Paper Series is to share “work in progress”. Working papers are unpublished manuscripts and should not be cited without author permission. The authors of the papers are solely responsible for the content of their contributions and may use the citation standards of their home country. The SSCFP Working Papers can be found at https://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/science_knowledge/culture_of_science_and_kno wledge/social_science_for_conservation_fellowship_programme/. Please also visit this website to learn more about IUCN’s mission and activities. If you should have any questions regarding the SSCFP or the Working Paper Series, please contact Dr. Gernot Brodnig, Director, IUCN’s Global Economics and Social Science Programme at [email protected] or Alison Greenberg, Programme Officer, IUCN, at [email protected]. International Union for the Conservation of Nature 1630 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20009 1 Abstract Conservation of biodiversity is complex. Most conservation challenges involve diverse interested parties, each with varying motivations, interests, power, and legitimacy. Managing conservation, then, requires not only ecological expertise, but also a sharp understanding of essential aspects of human societies, such as negotiation of power, governance, values, roles, and responsibilities. The social sciences provide a rich body of knowledge on the interactions of social and ecological systems and about political and economic drivers of conservation challenges. Their perspectives, methodologies and approaches can help us understand cause and effect, and design interventions that confront the true root of the human challenges we face in conservation. One such challenge, international illegal trade in wildlife, has extremely harmful and financially costly implications for people and biodiversity: it is a contributing factor in the extinction of species through unregulated harvest; it can result in the expansion of invasive species; it is a source of some veterinary and zoonotic diseases; and it has been linked to other illicit markets and terror networks. Current methods to curb illegal wildlife trade at all stages—source, intermediary, and destination—are often problematic, ineffective, not systematic, and there is a pervasive lack of commitment and accountability. To effectively confront this ever-growing challenge will require exploration and application of an additional set of tools. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a tool from the social sciences with the potential to significantly augment current efforts to curb the illegal trade in wildlife, through highlighting the role and power of social networks at various scales in shaping resource management decisions. SNA, which is the study of interaction among social actors, aims to determine the pattern of connections, the conditions under which these patterns emerge, and their consequences. This can be used to describe how information or goods flow, the positions of actors within networks, and for visualizing networks. This tool can be used to map and quantitatively and qualitatively measure characteristics and strength of social ties within illegal wildlife trade networks: data that, especially given the local-to-global nature of trafficking, has the potential to provide information to tailor intervention type and specific strategies to curb the trade. SNA methods can also measure change within a network, which can facilitate adaptability and improvement of broader intervention efforts. 2 Table of contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..... 2 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….......5 The illegal wildlife trade ………………………………………………………..,..……..5 Approaches to addressing the illegal wildlife trade ………………………..........7 Social Network Analysis ……………………………………………………………...... 8 Characteristics of social networks ……………………………………………....9 Metrics of social networks …………………………………………………..…..10 Applications of Social Network Analysis ……………………………………………....12 SNA in Public Health ………………………………………………………..….12 SNA in Criminology …………………………………………………….…..…..13 SNA in Wildlife Trade ………………………………………………….……….14 SNA approaches to interventions ……………………………………..…….…..16 Suitability of SNA to address illegal wildlife trade …………………...…….……….....16 As a visualization tool ………………………………………………………......16 To design interventions and measure their impact …………………….……......17 As an adaptable tool ………………………………………………………....…..18 Limitations and challenges of using SNA to address illegal wildlife trade ………….….18 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….....19 References ………………………………………………………………………………..20 3 Introduction Conservation of biodiversity is complex. Most conservation challenges involve diverse interested parties, each with varying motivations, interests, power, and legitimacy. Managing conservation, then, requires not only ecological expertise, but also a sharp understanding of essential aspects of human societies, such as negotiation of power, governance, values, roles, and responsibilities. The social sciences provide a rich body of knowledge on the interactions of social and ecological systems and about political and economic drivers of conservation challenges. Their perspectives, methodologies and approaches can help us understand cause and effect, and design interventions that confront the true root of the human challenges we face in conservation (Bennett & Roth, 2015; Endter-Wada, et al., 1998; Mascia, et al, 2003; Rastogi, et al, 2011). One such challenge, international illegal trade in wildlife, has extremely harmful and financially costly implications for people and biodiversity: it is a contributing factor in the extinction of species through unregulated harvest; it can result in the expansion of invasive species; it is a source of some veterinary and zoonotic diseases; and it has been linked to other illicit markets and terror networks. Current methods to curb illegal wildlife trade at all stages—source, intermediary, and destination—are often problematic, ineffective, not systematic, and there is a pervasive lack of commitment and accountability. To effectively confront this ever-growing challenge will require exploration and application of an additional set of tools. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a tool from the social sciences with the potential to significantly augment current efforts to curb the illegal trade in wildlife, through highlighting the role and power of social networks at various scales in shaping resource management decisions (Endter-Wata, et al., 1998; Prell, et al., 2009). SNA, which is the study of interaction among social actors, aims to determine the pattern of connections, the conditions under which these patterns emerge, and their consequences. This tool can be used to map and quantitatively and qualitatively measure characteristics and strength of actors and ties within illegal wildlife trade networks: data that, especially given the local-to-global nature of trafficking, has the potential to provide information to tailor intervention type and specific strategies to curb the trade. SNA methods can also measure change within a network, which can facilitate adaptability and improvement of broader intervention efforts. While instances of utilising SNA in various resource management contexts exist (Bodin, et al., 2006; Prell, et al., 2009), a comprehensive overview of its potential for application in wildlife crime is still missing. Here we will explore the previous and potential uses of SNA in addressing the illegal wildlife trade. We will provide an overview of the scope of the illegal trade in wildlife and the methods and uses of Social Network Analysis, followed by a discussion of the application of SNA to combat illegal wildlife trade. 4 The illegal wildlife trade Global trade in wildlife is documented as occurring at large scales for centuries, but was not regulated until the 20th century when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed by 80 countries in 1973 (Ayling, 2013). The aim of CITES is to ensure that the survival of wild plants and animals is not threatened by international trade. This is achieved through the identification and regulation of trade in at-risk species among the current 181 signatory parties (CITES, 2015). CITES established
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