New Paper Explores the Challenges and Benefits of Legal and Sustainable Wild Species Trade to Nature Market Governance
A joint paper from the Taskforce on Nature Markets and TRAFFIC asserts the crucial role of the business and finance sectors in facilitating strong nature markets and purging illegal and unsustainable trade in their commerce.
- Illegal, but above all unsustainable, wild species trade threatens the survival of many species and significantly impacts ecosystems, human health, indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ livelihoods, and exacerbates climate change impacts.
- The private sector is emerging as the driving force behind competitive and sustainable solutions. It can play a crucial role in financing and addressing sustainability challenges.
- The conservation, sustainable use and restoration of biodiversity can provide substantial business opportunities, including long-term viability of new or existing business models, cost savings and operational efficiency, increasing markets, shares, products and services, and fostering better relationships with stakeholders.
16 June 2023 - A new joint paper from the Taskforce on Nature Markets and TRAFFIC asserts the crucial role of the business and finance sectors in facilitating strong nature markets and purging illegal and unsustainable trade in their commerce.
It demonstrates the high costs of inaction to address biodiversity loss for the sector; for example, according to OECD, between 1997 and 2011, the global economy suffered an estimated annual loss of USD4-20 trillion in ecosystem services4. Although, as it stands, measures by the financial sector are often still voluntary, the report outlines a set of recommendations.
“When governed effectively, legal and sustainable nature markets involving wild species incentivise and contribute to biodiversity conservation, enhance the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities and benefit others involved in the supply chains. The financial sector has an important role to play in promoting and enhancing these nature positive markets and increased transparency,” says Paola Mosig Reidl, TRAFFIC’s Co-lead, Data, Research, and Enforcement Support and co-author of the paper.
Through demonstrative case studies from across the world, this joint paper - Legal and sustainable wild species trade: Learnings and implications for nature market governance - illustrates the 15 building blocks that amalgamate regulatory, economic, and social interventions to promote legal, sustainable and traceable practices while addressing the underlying causes of illegality and unsustainability.
“Nature markets benefit national and international economies. Laws and regulations rooted in science-based evidence are vital to balance the books for those nature markets that are legally and sustainably trading in wild species supply chains and, in turn, disincentivise illegal sales of wild species products that are exacerbating the negative impact of biodiversity loss and climate change,” says Sarah Baker Ferguson, TRAFFIC’s Crime Convergence Lead and co-author of the paper.
The paper highlights the challenges and intricacies of applying global solutions like CBD’s1 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, CITES2 and other national regulations, as well as the outcomes from recent non-governmental or intergovernmental reports like IPBES3 Sustainable Use Assessment in real-world examples.
"This paper brings nature market governance alive through a diversity of compelling and contextually complex case studies of plants and animals from across the world, such as that of the crocodile skin market in the Northern Territories of Australia. These case studies bring the urgent question of nature markets to life - snapping, roaring and singing its findings," says Marcelo Furtado, Co-lead of the Secretariat.
“Nature crimes are at the core of much of nature’s destruction, and resulting illegal nature markets provide the economic oxygen to make these crimes profitable. TRAFFIC’s exceptional report helps the reader understand this complex world, and points not only to ways to tackle such crimes but the lessons from experience of doing do for the future governance of nature markets,” says Simon Zadek, Nature Finance, Executive Director and Co-lead of the Secretariat.
You can read the full report here
-ENDS-
Notes
The Executive Summary of this paper will be released in Portuguese next week.
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
- Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Contact
Abbie Pearce | TRAFFIC Media Support Manager | abbie.pearce@traffic.org | Tel: +447321309176
Roberta Zandonai | Nature Finance Communications & Engagement Coordinator | roberta.Zandonai@naturefinance.net
About TRAFFIC
TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working to ensure that trade in wild species is legal and sustainable for the benefit of the planet and people. www.traffic.org
TRAFFIC is one of the Taskforce on Nature Markets’ Knowledge Partners.
About Taskforce on Nature Markets
The Taskforce on Nature Markets’ core objective is to shape a new generation of purposeful nature markets that deliver nature positive and equitable outcomes.
The Taskforce is an initiative of, and hosted by, NatureFinance (previously the Finance for Biodiversity Initiative - F4B). It benefits from the broader portfolio of NatureFinance's work and the extensive knowledge of its partners and networks. The Taskforce is supported by the MAVA Foundation. www.naturemarkets.net
