Defining wildlife crime
How theory shapes practice
The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is increasingly referred to as ‘wildlife crime’. Our research team is used a political ecology approach to unpack the meanings associated with wildlife crime, in order to develop a better understanding of how the shift towards thinking about IWT in this way is reshaping conservation in theory and in practice.
Our research examines how different stakeholders (NGOs, donors, international institutions, private companies and governments) define and use the term wildlife crime, and to what effect. Framing IWT as wildlife crime allows different stakeholders to draw attention to the issue, to press for more funding and to make the argument that IWT is part of (transnational) serious organised crime and a security threat.
This matters because such framings can fundamentally change and expand the range of possible policy responses for conservation. Using the term wildlife crime renders tackling the illegal wildlife trade as more compatible with approaches from the law enforcement, military, and private security sectors. This can produce logics in conservation practice that squeeze out and displace other approaches anchored in thinking of it as a problem produced by inequalities between wealthier consumers and poorer suppliers, or as a wider structural issue of development, lack of opportunities, and the dynamics of the global economy.
Research team
Related publications
The militarisation of anti-poaching: undermining long term goals
R Duffy, FAV St John, B Buscher and D Brockington (2015). The militarisation of anti-poaching: undermining long term goals. (PDF, 77KB) Environmental Conservation, 42(4): 345–348.
Towards a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting
R Duffy, FAV St John, B Buscher and D Brockington (2015). Towards a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting. (PDF, 127KB) Conservation Biology, 30(1). Pp. 14-22.
Waging a waging a war to save biodiversity: the rise of militarised conservation
R Duffy (2014). Waging a waging a war to save biodiversity: the rise of militarised conservation. (PDF, 201KB) International Affairs, 90 (4). pp. 819–834.
Linking green militarisation and critical military studies
F Massé, E Lunstrum and D Holterman (2017). Linking green militarisation and critical military studies. Critical Military Studies, 19.12.2017.
Accumulation by securitisation: commercial poaching, neoliberal conservation, and the creation of new wildlife frontiers.
F Massé, E Lunstrum (2015). Accumulation by securitisation: commercial poaching, neoliberal conservation, and the creation of new wildlife frontiers. Geoforum, 69, 227-237. 24.03.2015.
Conflict ecologies: connecting political ecology and peace and conflict studies
P LeBillon and R Duffy (2018). Conflict ecologies: connecting political ecology and peace & conflict studies. Journal of Political Ecology, 31.07.2018.
Anti-poaching’s politics of (in)visibility: representing nature and conservation amidst a poaching crisis
F Massé (2018). Anti-poaching’s politics of (in)visibility: representing nature and conservation amidst a poaching crisis. Geoforum, 13.10.2018.
Why we must question the militarisation of conservation
R Duffy, F Massé, E Smidt, E Marijnen, B Büscher, J Verweijen, M Ramutsindela, T Simlaie, L Joanny, E Lunstrum (2019) Why we must question the militarisation of conservation. Biological Conservation 05.02.2019.
War, by conservation
R Duffy (2018). War, by conservation. A ‘Knowing Animals’ podcast with Dr Siobhan O’Sullivan 22.10.2018.
Illegal wildlife trade and the persistence of “plant blindness”
J Margulies et al (2019). Illegal wildlife trade and the persistence of “plant blindness”. Plants People Planet. 12.07.2019.