As many of you who have been following Breaking The Brand (and now Nature Needs More) know, I have previously expressed my concern about the lack of ability (or willingness) of the large conservation organisations to challenge the current, rhino horn pro-trade agenda. Pro-trade advocates are happily stepping in to the void left by large conservation in this regard. They have created and honed simple, catchy messages that give the uninformed public the impression that current conservation efforts tackling the illegal wildlife trade are failing (which is largely correct) and that only allowing people to make money from exploiting them, if it pays it says approach, can ‘save’ them (which is a blatant lie). In recent times, pro-trade [...]

While in the short-term demand reduction campaigns will be needed to change people’s motivations to consume illegal and endangered wildlife ‘products’, to ensure a long-term sustainable future we must provide alternative ways to engage with nature. This involves understanding how to re-direct desire in specific user groups, which is the last step in targeted demand reduction campaigns. We cannot assume that we can simply re-direct these users to ‘legal luxury consumption’. Reverting to mainstream luxury products may not fulfil their desire and may be seen as a backward step by some elite users of illegal wildlife products. Many of the target groups already engage in all forms of ‘legal luxury consumption’ (including the super-brands and [...]

Reading news reports recently, there appears to have been a step up in rhino poaching in South Africa in the last few months Pro-trade groups are trying to attribute this to ‘poaching syndicates reacting to the threat of a potential legal trade in rhino horn’ (see red box). There is no evidence to back up this statement. This is pure conjecture to support their desire for a legal international trade; in the last few months the domestic trade in rhino horn has been legalised in South Africa, which I have commented on previously. Equally you could say that this step change in rhino poaching levels in the last few months could be a result of [...]

I often have people say to me “But what can one person achieve” or “What can I realistically do, I am only one person”. Well this weekend, I can give you two fantastic examples of The Power of One. Nicholas Duncan, Co-Founder and President of the SAVE African Rhino Foundation A couple of days ago, on the 10th June, The SAVE African Rhino Foundation celebrated 30 years of dedication to rhino conservation. I am sure people won’t realize that SARF is the world’s biggest NGO donor to Zimbabwe rhino conservation. Similarly, I am sure that people won’t know that SARF is the second oldest specialist rhino conservation NGO, after Save The Rhino Trust in [...]

In recent years, as I have been monitoring the rhino horn trade/no-trade debate, it has become apparent that conservation groups, large and small, have very little ability to deal with government, donors, agencies, organisations or individuals who have a (overt or, particularly, covert) pro-trade agenda. This inability to fight back is not just about rhino horn, it is also why we find ourselves in a similar position on climate change, mining and many more issues. Reflection and Questioning Over the last year, we are seeing more articles of the type: Why conservation is failing Has big conservation gone astray? How big donors and corporations shape conservation And even the seemingly unchallengeable has been challenged: The BBC’s Planet [...]

On 11 April 2017, the International Trade Centre published a paper titled: Demand in Viet Nam for rhinoceros horn used in traditional medicine. The ITC paper focuses on Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM), not using rhino horn as a status symbol, which I will comment on later in the blog. It states that the ITC conducted a survey of 1,000 consumers of TAM, including 239 people who self-disclosed they used rhino horn. So, the first questions must be: Did they interview the users of genuine rhino horn or those buying fake rhino horn? Just how relevant was their survey group to the trade/no-trade debate? Now the paper itself states (page 54) that the price of illegally poached rhino horn [...]

No one should be surprised about the South African governments legislation to allow a domestic trade in rhino horn. It has been very clear from the beginning that trade in rhino horn is what they support and want. What is troubling is how easy they got it, with little resistance from large conservation, international agencies or governments. While there has been a lot of ‘noise’ there hasn’t been much substance to the arguments put forward. Most discussions have been ideological and, while there is nothing wrong with that, they are not enough. I am sure that they feel that there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, but it seems they were played. As someone who has been [...]