Socioeconomic Characteristics of Songbird Shop Owners in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

The songbird trade in Indonesia is a major driver of avian species loss. Songbird traders represent the link between trappers and consumers for this lucrative industry, though details on the dynamics of this relationship remain understudied. To understand why songbird shop owners entered the trade, if businesses were lucrative, and assess owner receptiveness to adopting alternative businesses, we investigated socioeconomic characteristics of 95 songbird shop owners via an interview-style survey across 13 regencies in West Kalimantan. Responses from shop owners showed a widespread lack of legal permitting for businesses and the sale of bird species. Indeed, the majority of respondents (63%) did not have the mandatory business permits, which suggests that nonwildlife regulatory laws could be leveraged to reduce the volume of the illegal songbird trade in West Kalimantan. Nearly half of all respondents (40%) noted that bird trading was not their sole income source, nor was it particularly lucrative. More than half (55%) of all bird traders interviewed expressed interest in switching to alternative businesses if given the resources and opportunity to do so. This study offers novel insights into motives of engaging in songbird trade in West Kalimantan. This study also supports the possibility of addressing the songbird trade via a combination of law enforcement and alternative business programs.

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“…For example, one study in the journal of Tropical Conservation Science conducted socio-economic surveys of songbird shop owners in West Kalimantan, Indonesia (Miller et al., 2019). Several interesting findings shed light on the need for holistic cross-scale approaches.…”

“…A cross-scale intervention that views a “community of shop owners” as a target for a participatory holistic CBC approach offers promising potential to create multi-dimensional outcomes. Based on the study’s results, an intervention that utilizes a set of economic, social, and policy-driven interventions could potentially close down nearly all songbird and wildlife markets in the project area (see Miller et al., 2019). CBC at its heart is characterized by holistic integrated interventions which we argue are themes that are required across various conservation interventions.…”

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“…In Indonesia, where at least 26 bird species are globally threatened through overexploitation (BirdLife International, 2020), most of the trade is domestic (Chng, Eaton, Krishnasamy, Shepherd, & Nijman, 2015; Chng, Shepherd, & Eaton, 2018), but demand also drives the importation of birds from other countries in the region (Leupen et al., 2018). The legislation surrounding the trade in wild birds in Indonesia is comprehensive, and the list of protected species, which can only be traded if they are captive‐bred, was recently updated to include newly recognized and recently Red‐Listed species (Chng et al., 2015; Miller, Gary, ansyah, Sagita, & Adirahmanta, 2019). Even the harvest of unprotected wildlife is, in theory at least, regulated through a quota system set by a governmental body, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).…”

“…Harvest quotas have, however, only been set for a few species, thereby rendering the capture or trade of any other species illegal (Chng et al., 2015). Nevertheless, the trade and ownership of wild‐caught birds is ubiquitous across Indonesia (Chng et al., 2018; Marshall et al., 2020a) and bird traders are often confused about or unaware of the law (Rentschlar et al., 2018) making enforcement both difficult and unpopular (Janssen & Chng, 2018; Miller et al., 2019).…”

“…Harvest quotas have, however, only been set for a few species, thereby rendering the capture or trade of any other species illegal (Chng et al, 2015). Nevertheless, the trade and ownership of wild-caught birds is ubiquitous across Indonesia (Chng et al, 2018;Marshall et al, 2020a) and bird traders are often confused about or unaware of the law (Rentschlar et al, 2018) making enforcement both difficult and unpopular (Janssen & Chng, 2018;Miller et al, 2019). Initial research explored the underlying behaviours and motivations of bird-keepers from an anthropological or historical perspective, and proposed a market-based way to reduce pressure on wild bird populations (Jepson, 2010;Jepson & Ladle, 2005, 2009Jepson, Ladle, & Sujatnika, 2011).…”