Evaluating the reliability of media reports for gathering information about illegal wildlife trade seizures.

ABSTRACT: Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is threatening many species across the world. It is important to better understand the scale and characteristics of IWT to inform conservation priorities and actions. However, IWT usually takes place covertly, meaning that the data on species, trade routes and volumes is limited. This means that conservationists often have to rely on publicly available law enforcement reports of seizures as potential indicators of the magnitude and characteristics of IWT. Still, even these data may be difficult to access, leading conservationists to use media reports of seizures instead. This is the case in countries like Nepal, which have limited capacity in data keeping and reporting, and no centralized data management system. Yet reliance on media reports risks introducing f

SUBMITTER: Paudel K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8992658 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature