Along with co-editors Amy Hinsley and Alice Hughes, CCGC member Jared Margulies recently co-edited the October special issue of the journal Conservation Biology. The issue, entitled, “Beyond Charismatic Megafauna in Illegal Wildlife Trade,” includes 21 essays, review articles, original research papers, and more on species ranging from Venus flytraps (as shown on the cover), ornamental crayfish, parrots, tarantulas, succulents, and so much more. CCGC members Benjamin Trost and Margulies co-authored (with several authors) an article on Venus flytrap trade entitled “Expert assessment of illegal collecting impacts on Venus flytraps and priorities for research on illegal trade,” which is related to CCGC’s ongoing National Geographic funded work and BAND Foundation funded work on Venus flytrap conservation and trade (See Alternative Field Guides section for more details).
The special issue also includes an intervention by Annette Hübschle and Jared building from their ongoing research on transnational succulent trade in South Africa entitled “The need for a socioecological harm reduction approach to reduce illegal wildlife trade.” The article critically assesses lessons from South Africa’s response to the illegal wildlife trade and makes an argument for taking a socioecological harm reduction approach to the succulent trade:
“This approach aims to minimize the power, criminalization, and human and socioecological harms that so often emerge in heavily criminalized forms of IWT. Ecological harms to species that some people value will persist, and socioecological harm reduction should focus on how the greatest social and ecological harms can be minimized through practical attention to people’s immediate and longer term needs and the needs of affected nonhuman species.”
“Ecology is about relations, and here we seek to minimize the harms that emerge in IWTs through the relations held between those directly engaged in illegal wildlife economies (e.g., poachers, harvesters, intermediaries), the communities living near or in areas where desirable wildlife is located, and the species and ecosystems affected by these trades… Socioecological harm reduction is therefore focused on both the persons benefitting, harmed by, enrolled, or engaged in IWTs as well as affected species, species populations, and the ecosystems they help compose.” (Hübschle and Margulies, 2024: 5).