Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

Abstract

The dominant approach to combating the illegal wildlife trade has traditionally been to restrict the supply of wildlife products. Yet conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of implementing demandside interventions that target the end consumers in the trade chain. Their aim is to curb the consumption of wildlife or shift consumption to more sustainable alternatives. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding of the diversity of consumer motivations in the context of illegal wildlife trade, which includes hundreds of thousands of species, different uses, and diverse contexts. Based on consultation with multiple experts from a diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, and focal taxa, we developed a typology of common motivations held by wildlife consumers that can be used to inform conservation interventions. We identified 5 main motivational categories for wildlife use: experiential, social, functional, financial, and spiritual, each containing subcategories. This framework is intended to facilitate the segmentation of consumers based on psychographics and allow the tailoring of interventions-whether behavior change campaigns, enforcement efforts, or incentive programs-to the specific context in which they will be used. Underlining the importance of consumer research and collaborating with local actors is an important step toward promoting a more systematic approach to the design of demand reduction interventions.

China's Legalization of Domestic Rhino Horn Trade: Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Perspectives and the Likelihood of Prescription

“…People and communities around the world consume wildlife products for diverse reasons (Thomas-Walters et al, 2020), making wildlife trade a tremendously lucrative industry. For many taxa, trade is legal and sustainable.…”

Disentangling the shark and ray trade in Indonesia to reconcile conservation with food security

“…This is especially important in highly populated, developing and biodiverse regions. Indeed, shark products sustain a diverse array of markets, from lucrative demands for traditional delicacies, supplies for medicines and cosmetics, curios, and substantial provision of food for local communities [12,42]. The diversity and vulnerability of the living resources exploited, and the complex trade routes of their derivatives, calls for a step change in the ways data are recorded, fisheries are managed, and commercial activities regulated.…”

Influencing consumer demand is vital for tackling the illegal wildlife trade

“…price, availability, provenance) that a consumer may seek, but also by the consumers' identity and economic constraints (e.g. ethnicity, religion, income) as well as the sociocultural context in which purchase and consumption takes place (Doughty et al, 2019;Thomas-Walters, Cheung, et al, 2020;Thomas-Walters, Hinsley, et al, 2020). The latter context also includes the marketing activities of suppliers and other market actors who effectively try to influence consumer demand.…”