Out of Africa: understanding trade networks in illegal wildlife trade

该项目将以现有知识为基础，解决地球生物多样性面临的主要威胁之一。它提出了一种新颖的跨学科方法来研究野生动物商品不可持续使用背后的贸易网络；一种旨在进一步理解商品如何跨越地域和边界，以及在相关个人之间流动的方法。在野生动物贸易、犯罪学和应用统计学专家的指导下，这项研究将汇集该大学的3个学院。它将把可持续发展的主题应用到一个需要进一步研究的科学领域，并有可能改善执法干预措施，以保护受到非法野生动物贸易威胁的各种物种。我们的研究结果将对广泛的利益相关者有价值，包括政策制定者、保护非政府组织和国际执法机构，监督小组与他们建立了联系，以确保研究产生真正的影响。不可持续的野生动物贸易导致了一些世界上最受威胁物种的减少。尽管有贸易限制，但有组织犯罪集团越来越多地采购野生动物商品，并将其跨境转移。象牙仍然是当局查获最多的商品之一，据估计，80%的象牙来自非洲。利用地理分析和电阻理论，我们将预测偷猎事件和出口港口之间最可能的供应路线，以及象牙集中的关键节点。通过这些新颖的跨学科分析方法，我们旨在进一步了解非法贸易网络，并改善对象牙以及其他非法贸易物种或产品的执法干预。

This project will build on current knowledge and tackle one of the key threats to our planets biodiversity. It presents a novel and interdisciplinary method to study the trade networks behind the unsustainable use of wildlife commodities; a method designed to further our understanding of how commodities travel across landscapes and borders, and between the hands of individuals involved. Supervised by experts in wildlife trade, criminology and applied statistics, this research will bring together 3 schools from the university. It will apply the theme of sustainability to an area of science requiring further research and has the potential to improve law enforcement interventions to protect a diverse range of species threatened by illegal wildlife trade. Our results will be of value to a wide range of stakeholders, including policy-makers, conservation NGOs, and international enforcement agencies, with whom the supervisory team have established connections to ensure the research has real impact.AbstractUnsustainable wildlife trade has resulted in the decline of some of the worlds most threatened species. Despite trade restrictions, organised crime syndicates are increasingly sourcing wildlife commodities and moving them across landscapes and borders. Elephant ivory remains one of the commodities most frequently seized by authorities, with Africa estimated to be the origin for 80%. Using geographic profiling and electricity resistance theory we will predict the most likely supply routes between poaching events and exit ports, in addition to crucial nodes where ivory is consolidated. With these novel and interdisciplinary analytical methods we aim to further our understanding of illegal trade networks and improve law enforcement interventions, for elephant ivory, and by extension, for other illegally traded species or products.