Event / 

Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade

Working with local communities is an important aspect of conservation field projects, particularly in those aimed at reducing human-wildlife conflict and the illegal wildlife trade. Registration is now open for the International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED) webinar focusing on successful strategies for engaging local communities in conservation work. These strategies and case studies will provide valuable insight and advice that can be applied to tech conservation projects around the world. 

Online Event

Join the IIED webinar on 30 March 2020 to discuss community-based approaches to tackling illegal wildlife trade, with a focus on responding to human-wildlife conflict.

There is growing recognition among practitioners and policymakers that indigenous peoples and local communities are key to the success of initiatives aimed at tackling poaching and illegal wildlife trade (IWT). Community engagement can entail a wide range of approaches including, but not limited to:

  • Involving communities in law enforcement efforts
  • Generating incentives for community-based conservation
  • Involving communities in decision-making on IWT project design and implementation
  • Recognising and supporting community rights to manage and benefit from wildlife, and
  • Reducing the costs of living with wildlife – including reducing conflict between communities and wildlife.
  • This webinar will focus on theory and case studies related to reducing conflict between communities and wildlife in the context of tackling IWT.

The webinar is part of the work of IIED's People not Poaching (PnP) initiative, which includes a learning platform and online database that aims to build a global evidence base and awareness and knowledge-sharing about community approaches to reducing IWT.

Register for the webinar here.


This is the first in a series of webinars; our next webinars will showcase studies from across the world. If you know an initiative that deserves attention, email the PnP team.

Outline programme

Holly Dublin, IIED senior associate, will provide an introduction to the First Line of Defence (FLoD) initiative, which uses an interactive methodology underpinned by a theory of change (ToC) approach, to help engage communities more directly in the design of projects aimed at tackling IWT. The FLoD ToC identifies four key approaches to effective community participation; Holly’s presentation will focus on one of these – decreasing the costs of living with wildlife. 

Liv Wilson-Holt, PnP database editor, will provide a guided tour of the People not Poaching initiative to showcase community efforts to tackle illegal wildlife trade. Liv will share a diversity of case studies that are responding to conflict between communities and wildlife.

Amy Dickman, director of the Ruaha Carnivore Project, will talk about her work in Tanzania that empowers the communities surrounding Ruaha National Park to promote co-existence and reduce IWT.

IIED researcher Francesca Booker will chair the webinar and moderate the question-and-answer session.

Event details

Title: Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade – A Focus on Human-Wildlife Conflict
Date: Monday, 30 March 2020
Time: 2-3.30pm GMT
Designed for: Anyone interested in engaging communities in reducing IWT, and the challenges posed by human-wildlife conflict. 
Where: From your desk or portable internet device. Webinars are online workshops that people can attend via the internet
To join the webinar: Register via the Eventbrite booking platform.

The webinar will use the Zoom video conferencing platform. For those who have not attended a Zoom webinar before, please read this guide to participation as an attendee.

Contact

Francesca Booker ([email protected]), researcher (biodiversity), IIED's Natural Resources research group

Visit the event page on the IIED website.


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