First line of defence: Engaging communities in tackling wildlife crime

An international symposium held in February 2015, 'Beyond Enforcement: Communities, Governance, Incentives and Sustainable Use in Combating Wildlife Crime' (IUCN) has concluded that recognizing the rights of communities to use and benefit from wildlife is an essential complement to law enforcement in efforts to reduce illegal wildlife trade and to manage wildlife sustainably. The symposium found that not only have enforcement-dominated approaches proved ineffective for conservation, they have had other worryingly negative social consequences. Even when enforcement is successful at a specific site, it may have the effect of displacing the poaching threat to areas where enforcement is weaker and local communities are sufficiently poor or disenfranchised to have an incentive to engage in wildlife crime. The nature and scale of Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) pose fundamental challenges for both law enforcement and community-based conservation approaches. To step up the efficacy of enforcement, interventions to tackle IWT need to be made in partnership with local communities. Local people are well placed to engage in poaching because of their proximity to wildlife and their local knowledge. Such engagement must also be backed by effective law enforcement. When local people develop a collective sense of ownership of wildlife, poaching is viewed as stealing from the community rather than stealing from the state, and local people are therefore likely to become as protective of 'their' wildlife. Such ownership is built through policies that enable communities to exercise options and opportunities to benefit from wildlife and that build their motivation and capacity to steward wildlife.