Task 1: Case Report on Wildlife Trafficking

Task 1: Case Report on Wildlife Trafficking (This is a Live Project)

You work for a non-governmental or non-profit organisation (NGO or NPO) and are tasked to produce a case report on nature and extent of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in and from one of emerging or developing markets.

If you prefer to research a specific wildlife species (Apes, Tigers, Elephants or else), then use multiple country cases from emerging and developing markets from following regions:

• Africa
• Latin America
• South and Central Asia
• South East Asia
• Far East
• Eastern Europe / Russia

The lists and classifications of emerging (developing) countries are available from IMF’s World Economic Database (Link here) , MSCI (Link here), GlobalEdge (Link 1 and Link 2) and S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Indicative Guidance

1. The title of the report

2. Executive summary or Abstract (max. 300 words): Provide a summary of the key points of your project.

3. Background of research for the report (approx. 700 words): Explain the main themes and concepts of IWT under examination and provide an indicative review of the academic, policy and empirical literature which currently exists.

4. The section might address and consider following aspects (approx. 2000 words):

• Demand: Trend, patterns, and characteristics
  • What wildlife species are illicitly traded?
  • What are hot products?
  • Why is the species are targeted for trafficking? Any economic or social factors that drive IWT?
  • What is the scale of trafficking (seizures if data are available)?
• Destinations, consumptions and methods of sales
  • Are wildlife species for domestic and/or international consumptions?
  • Where are the main destinations?
  • How are they used? Are they used for luxury goods, medical and health care, exotic pets, tourism, foods, souvenirs, fashions, interior decorations, and/or animal testing for drugs and cosmetics?
  • How are they trafficked and sold? Are there any roles of online market places or social media like below?

Otter sold via Instagram from Indonesia

A listing for one-month old, female ‘black leopard’ kittens posted to a Russian online marketplace.

• Are there any perpetrators and organised networks that may include custom officials and border controls?

• Data sources and information
  • Academic journal articles, Reports from international organisations (WTO, UNODC, UN ECOSOC, WWF, WCO etc)
  • Magazines and newspapers
  • Social Media such as FB market places, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tencent and Weibo in English and Foreign Languages that may exacerbate IWT are useful sources of collating evidence. For example, search # cute exotic pets, # wildlife selfie and so on.

5. Conclusion and recommendations (approx. 1000 words): Summarise nature and extend of wildlife trafficking in and from selected regions or a country from emerging or developing markets. Propose policy recommendation that combats the IWT.

6. Reference list (outside of word count): The final section should include full references (in text citations in the main body) to the sources cited in the report (use the Harvard referencing system https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/harvard). The list of end references should be sorted alphabetical order by the last name of authors (or publishers if there are no particular authors). It is strongly recommended that all important tables, figures, diagrams, graphs and other information be incorporated directly into the main body of the report. Avoid appendices and footnote in your report (Be advised that examiners are not obliged to read appendices – appendices are outside of marking scheme).

Format (Report) – (See general guidance for formatting report here)

Your business report contains:

• Title and Executive Summary or Abstract
• Headings (sub-headings if appropriate)
• References
• Page numbers

The report is max 4,000 words (The breakdown of word lengths shown each section is indicative. You may adjust them according to the context)