Combating Rhino Horn Trafficking: The Need to Disrupt Criminal Networks.

ABSTRACT: The onslaught on the World's wildlife continues despite numerous initiatives aimed at curbing it. We build a model that integrates rhino horn trade with rhino population dynamics in order to evaluate the impact of various management policies on rhino sustainability. In our model, an agent-based sub-model of horn trade from the poaching event up through a purchase of rhino horn in Asia impacts rhino abundance. A data-validated, individual-based sub-model of the rhino population of South Africa provides these abundance values. We evaluate policies that consist of different combinations of legal trade initiatives, demand reduction marketing campaigns, increased anti-poaching measures within protected areas, and transnational policing initiatives aimed at disrupting those criminal syndicates e

SUBMITTER: Haas TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5117767 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature