| Popis: |
Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a problem that affects societies and ecosystems alike. However, it remains unclear which management strategies are suitable for addressing this issue, particularly when one considers the diversity of actors, interests, and nuances of the problem. We argue that better management strategies require multiple – and at times, even opposite – actors to coalesce around the fundamentals of the problem. An initial step towards formulating management strategies is to identify how the multiple actors involved understand the problem and its possible solutions (i.e. their attitudes). Although previous studies have addressed actors’ attitudes regarding IWT, they have rarely evaluated how attitudes vary between different actors. Against this backdrop, this study uses mixed methods to evaluate convergences in the attitudes of multiple actors (e.g. poachers, authorities, police forces and academics, among others) in Colombia. Importantly, this work has revealed that multiple IWT-related attitudes exist and are not necessarily shaped by contextual factors (e.g. social relations); instead, they are explained by actors’ experiences and preferred governance forms. We argue that consensus formation between the multiple parties involved is required to overcome institutional weaknesses, perception divergences and the differences in governance preferences for an efficient management of IWT. |
