Situation Analysis Covid-19, wildlife trade, and consumer engagement

TRAFFIC is working in partnership with IUCN through the USAID Wildlife TRAPS Project to explore how social and behavioural change could play a part in motivating people towards choosing safer and more sustainable patterns of wildlife trade and product consumption. The first step in this work has been to prepare a Situation Analysis, which aims to:

1. Capture what consumer engagement in wildlife product purchasing is happening worldwide, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived zoonotic disease origins;
2. Explore potential social and behaviour change (SBC) pilot project ideas according to where the greatest areas of need and opportunity are;
3. Share learning and mapping for SBC Community members to support and inform efforts to persuade consumers towards a safe, traceable, sustainable, and legal wildlife supply.

The Situation Analysis focused on trade and use of wild mammals and wild birds as high-risk taxa for potential transmission of zoonotic diseases, and considered three primary use types: 1) Wild animal meat, 2) Wild animal-based medicines, and 3) Live wild animals kept as pets or used for scientific research or display.

The first and third use types are likely to be more important for this project, as wild animal ingredients prescribed in formal traditional medicine systems tend to be processed and/or diluted, and thus carry lower risks of disease transmission compared with meat and live animals.