Representing jaguars and WWF at the International Conference on Human Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence and the CITES Big Cats Task Force
Posted on May, 12 2023
Big cats not only capture our hearts and imagination, but in the past months, they have also captured the centre stage of multiple conferences and events of global significance. WWF delegates, including the Amazon Coordination Unit’s (ACU) Regional Jaguar Coordinator, Dr. Melissa Arias, had the honour to participate in these events and to elevate the status and importance of Latin America’s largest cat, the jaguar, in the global conservation agenda.
Organised by the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group and co-hosted with the GEF-funded and World Bank-led Global Wildlife Program, and WildCRU of Oxford University, the International Conference on Human Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence took place from 30 March to the 1st of April in Oxford, UK. The conference was attended by more than 500 participants from 70 countries, and it included a rich programme of nearly 50 sessions covering a wide range of topics, from animal behaviour and strategies to mitigate depredation of livestock by carnivores, to social values, international policies, and financial mechanisms to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
While the conference had a large Africa focus, due to the high incidence and high costs associated with conflicts between humans and African megafauna, WWF contributed towards the representation of Latin American and Amazonian case studies and species. ACU’s Regional Jaguar Coordinator participated in a session on carnivores, speaking about the linkages between human-jaguar conflict and the trafficking of jaguar body parts, and the work that WWF is doing to build human-jaguar coexistence across the Amazon. The key message of the talk was that conflict acts as a frequent source of jaguar body parts in trade, but there are other drivers such as local and foreign demand which also exert great pressures over jaguars. Therefore, human-jaguar conflict and jaguar trafficking require coordinated multifaceted interventions, without disregarding contextual nuances and the specificities pertaining to each. Melissa also intervened at a panel session entitled “Collaborating for coexistence across Latin America”, speaking about the role of jaguar champions, from individual community members to governments officials and international organizations, in sparking collaborations and action around jaguar conservation. The presentation also flagged the Jaguar Roadmap 2030 as an example of a successful collaboration for jaguars, supported by WWF in alliance with the UNDP, WCS and Panthera.
Click here to watch the conference’s videos, including Melissa’s talk on jaguar conflict and trafficking and collaborations in Latin America.
Organised by the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence Specialist Group and co-hosted with the GEF-funded and World Bank-led Global Wildlife Program, and WildCRU of Oxford University, the International Conference on Human Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence took place from 30 March to the 1st of April in Oxford, UK. The conference was attended by more than 500 participants from 70 countries, and it included a rich programme of nearly 50 sessions covering a wide range of topics, from animal behaviour and strategies to mitigate depredation of livestock by carnivores, to social values, international policies, and financial mechanisms to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
While the conference had a large Africa focus, due to the high incidence and high costs associated with conflicts between humans and African megafauna, WWF contributed towards the representation of Latin American and Amazonian case studies and species. ACU’s Regional Jaguar Coordinator participated in a session on carnivores, speaking about the linkages between human-jaguar conflict and the trafficking of jaguar body parts, and the work that WWF is doing to build human-jaguar coexistence across the Amazon. The key message of the talk was that conflict acts as a frequent source of jaguar body parts in trade, but there are other drivers such as local and foreign demand which also exert great pressures over jaguars. Therefore, human-jaguar conflict and jaguar trafficking require coordinated multifaceted interventions, without disregarding contextual nuances and the specificities pertaining to each. Melissa also intervened at a panel session entitled “Collaborating for coexistence across Latin America”, speaking about the role of jaguar champions, from individual community members to governments officials and international organizations, in sparking collaborations and action around jaguar conservation. The presentation also flagged the Jaguar Roadmap 2030 as an example of a successful collaboration for jaguars, supported by WWF in alliance with the UNDP, WCS and Panthera.
Click here to watch the conference’s videos, including Melissa’s talk on jaguar conflict and trafficking and collaborations in Latin America.
Photo 1: Melissa Arias presenting at the HWCC Conference Carnivores Session. Photo 2: Santiago Zuluaga, Gabriela Lichtenstein, Mariana Catapani, Valeria Boron, Rogerio Cunha de Paula, Ronit Amit, Jamie Copsey, Silvio Marchini, Melissa Arias and Ivonne Higuero at the HWCC Conference Collaboration for Coexistence across Latin America Panel.WWF and ACU also represented jaguars at the CITES Big Cats Task Force Meeting, which took place on the 24th to 28th of April 2023 in Entebbe, Uganda. The Meeting was attended by over 70 representatives from 28 big cat range countries and other countries involved in the trade of big cat specimens, as well representatives from intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and regional enforcement networks. The goal was to “develop strategies to strengthen law enforcement responses to combat illegal trade in big cats and their parts and derivatives, focusing on big cat species that are of highest concern from a conservation and illegal trade perspective: Cheetah, Mainland Clouded Leopard, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Lion, Jaguar, Leopard, Tiger and Snow Leopard”.
The event featured presentations delivered by government authorities, NGOs, academics and the CITES Secretariat, on the status of the illegal trade in each big cat species, and convergences between species and with other crimes. On this occasion, ACU’s Regional Jaguar Coordinator delivered a plenary presentation describing the latest evidence on the trafficking in jaguar body parts, contained in the “CITES Study on the Illegal Trade in Jaguars”, which she had the honour of authoring in 2021. The presentation provided an overview of the status, trends, uses, drivers, modus operandi, and impacts of the illegal trade in jaguars. Key takeaways included the important role of opportunistic killing and human-jaguar conflict as sources of jaguar body parts, the varied domestic and foreign markets that exist for jaguars, and the critical challenges pertaining to the lack of official data and enforcement investigations into the illegal trade in jaguars. Given that outside of the Amazon, most jaguar subpopulations are small, isolated and endangered, the talk emphasized the need for concerted actions, funding and collaborations to prevent local jaguar extinctions, referencing CITES Decisions 19.110 to 19.114 on Jaguars, adopted at the 19th Conference of the Parties held last November in Panama.
Daily break out groups offered the opportunity for participants to discuss specific topics on a deeper level, and to build recommendations that were later captured in the Task Force’s Outcome Document. The document calls for strengthened enforcement of the laws protecting big cats, by developing trained and skilled multi-agency units, addressing data and intelligence gaps, and combatting corruption. It also urges Parties to regulate facilities breeding big cats in captivity to prevent loopholes for the illegal trade, ensuring proper licensing, specimen registration, welfare conditions and regular inspections. Demand reduction is also covered in the document, with key actions including the implementation of behaviour change initiatives and engagement of online platforms to prevent the trade in big cats on the internet. Noting the challenges in identifying specimens in trade (particularly for the case of bones, teeth, and paste), the document outlines available tools and services to facilitate identification, including working with registered forensic institutions. Finally, the document highlights the need for stronger regional and international collaboration, taking advantage of existing platforms that can facilitate information sharing, monitoring trafficking networks and investigating illicit financial flows.
Beyond the thought-provoking discussions and results obtained, both events succeeded in their mission to expose the wide range of case studies, challenges, solutions, and opportunities for addressing human-wildlife conflict and the illegal trade in big cats. More importantly, they sparked new and solidified old connections between those who can help turn the tide for the vulnerable species and communities that are caught in the crossfires of conflict and trade. The implementation of these lessons in the coming months and years will remain a key priority for WWF and ACU.
Melissa Arias presenting at the CITES Big Cats Task Force Meeting Plenary.