This lesson is the third in a three-part series on networks. In this lesson, we move beyond a focus on ecological relationships alone, as in Part 1, or simply on social relationships, as in Part 2, to introduce network concepts associated with fully coupled socio-environmental networks. This lesson covers some basics on network metrics, motifs, and multiplex networks and uses a study on illegal trafficking of wildlife species to illustrate why network analysis can be useful in managing natural resources.

 Wildlife Trade Futures is a research project that aims to understand how the global wildlife trade landscape and related economies are being re-shaped in the COVID-19/post COVID-19 era and with what consequences. Envisioned and started in response to the specifics of COVID-19, the project has evolved to use a range of social science approaches to critically examine the relationships between the wildlife trade/wildlife economies and concerns around zoonoses and public health, and wildlife-based livelihoods. The project aims to provide policymakers with evidence-based guidelines on how to mitigate the ecological and public health risks of wildlife trade in the (post)COVID-19 era in ways that are attentive to power relations, inequality and justice. 

The DICE Wildlife Trade Research Hub (DICE-WTRH) brings together academics from across the University including from the School of Economics, the Kent Business School, the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science and the Centre for Journalism, to pioneer research in this complex field, with the ultimate aim of conserving biodiversity and the ecological processes that support ecosystems and people.

Students explore the operation of animal trafficking at a working port. They investigate a crime by interacting with staff on-site to stop trafficking

Lesson plan for students aged 11-14

This scheme of work includes everything you need to run a series of one-hour sessions for 5–12 year-olds on the illegal wildlife trade. The pack offers over 20 hours of free lesson plans and resources created with the help of amazing illustrators, photographers and storytellers who care about endangered wildlife. The lessons include tips on photography from the world’s best wildlife photographer David Yarrow; a masterclass for children on how to draw animals from Axel Scheffler, award-winning illustrator of The Gruffalo; and a gripping adventure story from the author Zella where children discover an ivory smuggling ring.

Illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade are major threats to many of the world's species and it’s one of the most important and urgent parts of our work.

Our two new classroom resources - Illegal Wildlife Trade Detectives (ages 8 - 11) and Illegal Wildlife Trade: Investigations (ages 11 - 14) - help your pupils find out more about the threats to wildlife from illegal trade and to explore some of the solutions to help fight it. The activities can be delivered through different subject areas or as part of a themed week on sustainability.

Nature is in crisis. Hear from activists, scientists and those most affected as we unpack the challenges we face as well as the solutions that lie within our grasp. In this podcast from the Natural History Museum in London, discover the interconnected issues facing our planet and explore what we can do about them together.

Series of 6 podcasts related to wildlife trafficking

Kieran talks with Olivia Swaak-Goldman, executive director of the Wildlife Justice Commission, about the Hague-based organization’s efforts to stop the illegal wildlife trade and other forms of environmental exploitation, currently the fourth largest source of funds for transnational criminal organizations. Olivia discusses how WJC targets traffickers in endangered species and those having the greatest negative environmental impact with its team of former law enforcement investigators, intelligence officials and prosecutors.

Olivia highlights WJC’s recent success in prosecuting ivory and Pangolin smugglers with help from Nigeria and China as well as the ongoing struggle to take down transnational criminals throughout the world who rely on the aid of corrupt officials and are often also engaged in human and drug trafficking.

“Wildlife crimes wouldn’t be there without corruption, without fraud, without money laundering,” Olivia says, adding, “Addressing corruption is absolutely essential to tackling wildlife crime.”

ACAMS and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)collaborated with the WJC to develop a free training certificate on investigative strategies to aid law enforcement in the use of financial intelligence and other data related to the illegal wildlife trade. LEARN MORE: www.acams.org/en/training/certif…or-law-enforcement

How I Trafficked Animals Illegally | Informer

https://youtu.be/wQctu__AGEI\

6 minutes

Bad Goods : Inside the Global Underground Wildlife Trafficking Market

https://youtu.be/f0fUlWJ8VsE

25 minutes

Inside the Rhino Poaching Trade | Bad Blood

https://youtu.be/-tM1YyD0AV0

15 minutes

Poaching, trafficking, and illegal harvest are all terms used in discussing wildlife crime. While they refer to different actions along the supply chain, these terms are all central to the issue of non-compliance with rules and regulations put in place to support the long-term survival of plant and animal species. Wildlife crime has cascading negative effects on wildlife and people: it reduces biodiversity and can damage entire ecosystems, threatens livelihoods in rural communities, weakens global security, and robs countries that rely on wildlife for tourism of assets and revenue. This podcast is a follow up to our broadcast, “Combating Wildlife Crime: Toward an Integrated Approach”, which provides an overview of the need for and application of social science to holistically address wildlife crime. In this podcast, Dr. Meredith Gore, Associate Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, and Dr. Christine Browne, Human Dimensions Team Lead at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Natural Resource Program Center, delve deeper into social science considerations for this topic, including the needs, methods, the benefits for addressing this national and global conservation priority.

A new UNEP-INTERPOL report entitled "The Rise of Environmental Crime" is being launched on World Environment Day 2016 indicating that environmental crime is up by 26% since 2014.

WWF webinar, ~ 40 minutes in length

Every country is touched by wildlife crimes. They impact biodiversity, human health, national security, socio-economic development, and line the pockets of organized criminal groups. Illegal trade in wildlife can lead to the spread of zoonoses, such as SARS-CoV-2 that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. As a quarter of the world’s land is owned or managed by communities, they must be central to global conservation efforts to tackle international wildlife trade.

This webinar was organized by the International Union of Conservation for Nature's Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. The webinar is in Spanish and English.

Combating Wildlife Crime: Toward an Integrated Approach (Broadcast)

Overview

Around the world, poaching and trafficking of illegal wildlife products is rising. And even though awareness has grown and interventions have increased to address the issue, wildlife populations threatened by this illegal activity continue to decline. Human behavior, specifically non-compliance with wildlife laws and purchasing behaviors, are central to this conservation concern. A key strategy for targeting non-compliance is law enforcement, which has improved the effectiveness of conservation efforts in many contexts. However, a multi-pronged approach is needed not only to address illegal behavior, but also to reduce the demand for illegal wildlife products. Learn from our expert panelists how you can integrate social sciences to create successful interventions.

Who should attend this broadcast: Law enforcement, project managers, resource managers, visitor services professionals, park rangers, outdoor recreational planners, and anyone whose resource management efforts would be enhanced or supported by learning about state-of-the art resources for the human dimensions of natural resource conservation.

Presenters: Meredith Gore, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University; Daphne Carlson-Bremer, DVM, MPVM, PhD, Branch Chief, Combating Wildlife Trafficking Strategy and Partnerships, USFWS, International Affairs; and Craig Tabor, Special Agent in Charge, Intelligence Unit, USFWS, Office of Law Enforcement.

Host: Christine Browne, PhD, Human Dimensions Team Lead, USFWS, Natural Resource Program Center

Recorded June 19, 2019.

This module’s goal is to introduce and evaluate a variety of common strategies for harvesting wild populations. The module includes reasons for harvesting, theoretical foundations for maximum sustainable yield and harvest strategies, age- and sex-biased harvests, and effects of harvesting on target and non-target wildlife. The module contains two case studies and a spreadsheet-based exercise suitable for either demonstration or laboratory use. The module also contains references to supplementary material that is freely available on the web.

This lesson plan addresses the challenge of conveying to students the globalized nature and complexity of natural resource management. Specifically, it uses seafood traceability, or the ability to track seafood as it moves through the global seafood supply chain, as a theme for understanding the potential for science and technological innovations to enable traceability as well as the different roles that various stakeholders play in ensuring fisheries sustainability. The lesson plan conveys several themes related to environmental sustainability including: the role of consumer empowerment, the importance of data and information sharing, the need to coordinate multiple stakeholders, and the intersection of science, technology, and policy-making. In one classroom activity, students are guided through a small-group, active-learning exercise that challenges them to make sustainable seafood choices from a restaurant menu. In another activity, students are asked to role-play and consider the information needs of various stakeholders in the seafood supply chain. Overall, the lesson plan is designed to demonstrate that there is no one single solution to realize seafood traceability and ensure fisheries sustainability. Instead, fisheries and natural resource management require multifaceted solutions and the involvement of multiple sectors of society.

Time: 2 class periods or one lab

Gorospe KD, Josephs LI, Humphries AT. 2020. Using seafood traceability to teach the complexities of natural resource management and sustainability. CourseSource. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2020.10

Provides a case study on tiger salamanders on how introduced organisms can directly alter the genetic characteristics of native populations through hybridization and introgression.  Covers terminology and applications of genetic research.

This interactive module allows students to use DNA profiling and related biological concepts to solve two cases of elephant poaching.

A variety of materials and activities, including data analysis, related to the evolution of "tuskless" elephants in Africa.