To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World
International commercial trade in wildlife, whether legal or illegal, is one of the greatest threats to multiple species of wildlife today. Opinions on how to address it are deeply divided across the conservation community. Approaches fall into two broad categories: making the trade illegal to prote...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.587896/full |
| _version_ | 1818645382340542464 |
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| author | Elizabeth L. Bennett Fiona M. Underwood Fiona M. Underwood E.J. Milner-Gulland |
| author_facet | Elizabeth L. Bennett Fiona M. Underwood Fiona M. Underwood E.J. Milner-Gulland |
| author_sort | Elizabeth L. Bennett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | International commercial trade in wildlife, whether legal or illegal, is one of the greatest threats to multiple species of wildlife today. Opinions on how to address it are deeply divided across the conservation community. Approaches fall into two broad categories: making the trade illegal to protect against any form of commercial trade or allowing some or all of the trade to be legal and seeking to manage it through sustainable trade. The conservation community is often deeply polarized on which is the better option. We posit that a way to choose between these options is by considering species-specific attributes of biological productivity, management context, and demand. We develop a conceptual framework to assess which option is more likely to result in successful conservation of a species. We show how to construct a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) to model how these attributes (1) interact to affect the sustainability of the species’ population and (2) vary under different trade management regimes. This approach can support scientifically based decision-making, by predicting the likely sustainability outcome for a population of a species under different trade management regimes, given its particular characteristics and context. The BBN allows identification of key points at which conservation interventions could change the potential outcome. It also provides the opportunity to explore how different assumptions about how humans might respond to different trade regimes affects outcomes. We illustrate these ideas by using the BBN for a hypothetical terrestrial mammal species population and discuss how the BBN can be extended for species with different characteristics, for example, those that can be stockpiled or when there are multiple products. This approach has the potential to help the conservation community to assess the most appropriate regime for managing wildlife trade in a transparent, open, and scientifically based way. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T00:29:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cf476662d2e46219834b29af6bc13dd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T00:29:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cf476662d2e46219834b29af6bc13dd2022-12-21T22:10:22ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2021-03-01910.3389/fevo.2021.587896587896To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex WorldElizabeth L. Bennett0Fiona M. Underwood1Fiona M. Underwood2E.J. Milner-Gulland3Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, United StatesIndependent Statistical Consultant/Researcher, Taunton, United KingdomNational Trust, Swindon, United KingdomDepartment of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomInternational commercial trade in wildlife, whether legal or illegal, is one of the greatest threats to multiple species of wildlife today. Opinions on how to address it are deeply divided across the conservation community. Approaches fall into two broad categories: making the trade illegal to protect against any form of commercial trade or allowing some or all of the trade to be legal and seeking to manage it through sustainable trade. The conservation community is often deeply polarized on which is the better option. We posit that a way to choose between these options is by considering species-specific attributes of biological productivity, management context, and demand. We develop a conceptual framework to assess which option is more likely to result in successful conservation of a species. We show how to construct a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) to model how these attributes (1) interact to affect the sustainability of the species’ population and (2) vary under different trade management regimes. This approach can support scientifically based decision-making, by predicting the likely sustainability outcome for a population of a species under different trade management regimes, given its particular characteristics and context. The BBN allows identification of key points at which conservation interventions could change the potential outcome. It also provides the opportunity to explore how different assumptions about how humans might respond to different trade regimes affects outcomes. We illustrate these ideas by using the BBN for a hypothetical terrestrial mammal species population and discuss how the BBN can be extended for species with different characteristics, for example, those that can be stockpiled or when there are multiple products. This approach has the potential to help the conservation community to assess the most appropriate regime for managing wildlife trade in a transparent, open, and scientifically based way.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.587896/fullBayesian Belief Networkscommercial wildlife traderesolving controversiesdecision support toolsterrestrial mammals |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth L. Bennett Fiona M. Underwood Fiona M. Underwood E.J. Milner-Gulland To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution Bayesian Belief Networks commercial wildlife trade resolving controversies decision support tools terrestrial mammals |
| title | To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World |
| title_full | To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World |
| title_fullStr | To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World |
| title_full_unstemmed | To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World |
| title_short | To Trade or Not to Trade? Using Bayesian Belief Networks to Assess How to Manage Commercial Wildlife Trade in a Complex World |
| title_sort | to trade or not to trade using bayesian belief networks to assess how to manage commercial wildlife trade in a complex world |
| topic | Bayesian Belief Networks commercial wildlife trade resolving controversies decision support tools terrestrial mammals |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.587896/full |
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