Doctoral Dissertation Research: Improving management of wildlife poaching risks: Using perceptions of risk and situational crime prevention to protect endangered wildlife

这项研究评估了与濒危野生动物相关的偷猎风险，检查了利益相关者对风险的看法，并衡量了与偷猎相关的犯罪相关的情景因素。野生动物偷猎是一种全球风险，威胁着生物、生态、经济、社会文化和安全系统。非洲犀牛以及管理它们的社区和国家的情况为研究偷猎濒危野生动物提供了适当的背景。犀牛和管理它们的地方正面临着最近偷猎热潮带来的风险增加。在纳米比亚，农村经济严重依赖于野生动物资源，以生存和战利品为目的的狩猎以及生态旅游。偷猎犀牛会导致大量利益被窃取，并降低农村社区的安全。这项研究融合了风险和决策科学、犯罪学和自然资源管理的理论，以产生对管理这一全球环境风险的新理解。本研究的目的是：(1)开发、测试和验证与野生动物相关的风险感知的综合模型，以及(2)评估情景犯罪预防方法作为管理野生动物偷猎风险的工具。研究人员从个人调查、现有执法数据、管理单位内的焦点小组(例如社区管理区、私人保护区、国家公园)以及与野生动物利益攸关方(例如生态旅游经营者、专业猎人)和执法专业人员(例如警察、传统当局)收集数据。研究结果对理解和管理环境犯罪和风险具有广泛的理论、方法和实践意义。其影响从野生动物偷猎的案例延伸到其他全球环境风险，如非法捕鱼或伐木。首先，这项研究对风险和决策科学、自然资源管理和犯罪学中的方法和理论进行了实证检验，而不是在典型的西方发达国家背景下。其次，这项研究所产生的知识将为影响环境犯罪的情景因素提供务实的、基于理论的分析。了解这些因素对于制定一套最有效地减少促进偷猎活动的条件的风险管理对策至关重要。最后，这项研究产生了新的方法和理论工具，可供研究人员和从业人员在不同背景下研究其他物种的偷猎行为。

This research assesses poaching risks associated with endangered wildlife, examines stakeholder perceptions of risk, and measures situational factors associated with poaching-related crimes. Wildlife poaching is a global risk that threatens biological, ecological, economic, sociocultural and security systems. The situation of African rhinoceroses and the communities and countries that manage them provide an appropriate context to study the poaching of endangered wildllife. The rhinoceroses and the places that manage them are facing increases in the risks from the recent upsurge in poaching. In Namibia the rural economy is heavily tied to wildlife resources through hunting for subsistence and trophy purposes, as well as ecotourism. Rhinoceros poaching translates into significant stolen benefits and decreased security for rural communities. This research merges theory from risk and decision sciences, criminology, and natural resource management to generate novel understandings about managing this global environmental risk. The objectives of this research are to: (1) develop, test and validate an integrated model of wildlife-related risk perception, and (2) evaluate the situational crime prevention approach as a tool to manage wildlife poaching risks. The researcher collects from individual surveys, existing enforcement data, focus groups within management units (e.g., community-based management areas, private reserves, national parks), and with wildlife stakeholders (e.g., ecotourism operators, professional hunters) and enforcement professionals (e.g., police officers, traditional authorities). Results have broad theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for understanding and managing environmental crimes and risks. Implications extend beyond the case of wildlife poaching to other global environmental risks such as illegal fishing or logging. First, the study provides an empirical test of methods and theories in risk and decision sciences, natural resource management, and criminology outside the typical western, developed-country context. Second, the knowledge that emerges from this research will provide pragmatic, theory-based analysis of situational factors affecting environmental crimes. Understanding these factors is key for tailoring a suit of risk management responses that most effectively reduce the conditions that facilitate poaching activities. Lastly, this research generates new methodological and theoretical tools that can be used by researchers and practitioners to study poaching of other species in different contexts.