It Is Time For Large Conservation & Donors To Take Demand Reduction Seriously

As Breaking The Brand’s supporters know, our focus is demand reduction for rhino horn. This focus remains, but as a result of the recent elephant census we decided to demonstrate the type of campaign we could create to target just one group of ivory consumers.

Ivory Buyers in China

On...

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Can a Tiered Basic Income Model Provide an Alternative to Sustainable Utilization?

If the Strategy Doesn’t Work, Change the Strategy More and more people are questioning the lack of success of the sustainable use of wildlife model. Similarly, many are examining the policies of large conservation bodies which use trade to minimize human-wildlife conflict with the aim to save wildlife and natural...
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Guest Blog: The Caring Public Deserve Better Information

Breaking The Brand is delighted to have a guest blogger, Caroline Bertin. Caroline is a supporter of and donor to Breaking The Brand. Caroline is based in the UK and we were delighted that she headed along to the rhino horn pro-trade/no-trade debate, presented earlier this month. John Hume, South...
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Breaking The Brand RhiNo Campaign 3 Wrap Up

Breaking The Brand is now only weeks away from the launch of RhiNo Campaign 4. July 2016 saw the final publication from RhiNo Campaign 3 - What does a wildlife criminal look like? Status Anxiety Launched on the 4th January 2016, this was the first Breaking The Brand campaign aimed...
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Smart Trade – NO, Foolish Assumptions – YES

As many of you know, I have long asked the people who believe in legalising the international trade in rhino horn to produce their business case and user analysis. The reason I have asked these questions is that since I started interviewing the primary users of rhino horn, driving the...

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Demand Reduction – Take it Personally (#GoneForGood)

As a kid in the UK in the 70’s and 80’s, I was addicted to nature TV, Animal Magic, Survival, Wildlife on One, Life on Earth, Johnny Morris, David Bellamy and David Attenborough. The emerging debates at the time about how people needed to protect the natural world and how...
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Research Confirms Preference for Traditional Animal Medicinal Materials (TAMs) Derived from Wild Animals.

Rhino Horn User Analysis and Pro-Trade/No-Trade Debate As many of Breaking The Brand’s supporters know, I have long said that the pro-rhino-horn-trade proponents have no understanding of the current demand or users; I have not once seen any form of customer analysis, which I outlined in a previous blog post. Time...
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How Much Is Spent On Rhino Horn Demand Reduction Campaigns?

When you add up everything that is being spent to save the rhino from extinction in the wild, then it would become a teeny tiny fraction of 1%. The vast majority of the money donated to rhino conservation is spent on the ground on protection measures – fencing, rangers, equipment,...

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Re-Inventing Magnificence – Conservation is the New Black

As some BTB supporters already know, I recently began a Visiting Research Fellowship at the Australian National University working in the area of cultural anthropology. The focus of the research is: How do current and historical cultures ascribe status to wildlife ‘products’ and what turns them into luxury items? The...
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See Clearly – The Implications of South Africa’s Domestic Trade in Rhino Horn

In an article I wrote in July 2015 Desire To Supply Rhino Horn Drives Manufacture Of Demand:  I pointed out that while the South African government continues to keep the option of a legal trade in rhino horn on the table, the pro-trade lobby will focus on creating a ‘legal’ sales...
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Reckless Australian Auction Rooms and Weak Domestic Wildlife Laws May Contribute to Worldwide Rhino Slaughter

I, like many people around the world, was disgusted at the sales of rhino horn in Sydney and Melbourne last week. As someone who calls Australia home feeling ashamed of the stupidity, naivety, greed and ignorance that enables this to happen was also part of the list of emotions I...
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Pro-Trade Response to Blog

Pro-Trade Response to BTB Blog: Viet Nam’s wealthy buyers of rhino don’t see horn from farmed rhino as a substitute product.

Given that the blog talks about the wealthy Vietnamese elite who can afford genuine, wild rhino horn are not interested in a farmed ‘product’, which is a critical point...

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