FloraGuard: ItTacking the illegal trade in endangered plants

Over the last 60 years, commerce in exotic wild plants increased in Western countries (Sajeva et al 2007). Alongside the legal trade in plants, the profitability of the market also boosted illegal markets. Wild plant crimes have long been a focus of concern mainly in conservation science. In criminology, while the illegal trade in wild animals (and animal parts eg ivory) is receiving increasing attention, the illegal trade in plants has so far been under-investigated. However, wild plant trafficking threatens and destroys numerous species and important natural resources (Herbig & Joubert 2006) and hinders the rule of law and security as profits are also used to finance other forms of trafficking (WWF 2016). The Internet has increased the illegal trade in wild plants, facilitating the encounter of supply and demand; no matter how highly specialised the market in certain wild plants, it is much easier to find potential buyers or sellers online than in the physical world (Lavorgna 2014a). There is consensus that the policing of such a criminal activity is still scarce and poorly resourced (Nurse 2011; Elliot 2012; Lavorgna 2014a; Lemieux 2014; Runhovde 2016). A major challenge is the fact that law enforcement agencies have limited training opportunities and lack of equipment and specific expertise to counter effectively this illegal trade (CITES2016). In this context, the question of how can we best control and prevent this criminal market needs to be addressed.

The proposed project combines innovative and cross-disciplinary ways of analysing online marketplaces for the illegal trade in endangered plants and analyses of existing policing practices to assist law enforcement in the detection and investigation of illegal trades of endangered plants. It focuses on the UK, which serves as a major transit and destination market for the European region (EU Commission2016).

The result of this research will be of significant importance for the work of law enforcement (eg national wildlife crime units, custom officers) in combating the illegal trade in endangered plants (in both its online and offline elements), disrupt criminal networks involved in such trade, and preserve biodiversity. In line with the latest WWF position paper (WWF 2016), the project fosters the improvement of awareness and technical capacity in investigation and prosecution services for wildlife crimes. The proposed approach will identify and disseminate best practice for other researchers and law enforcement officers with an interest in online crime markets and wildlife policing; in addition, it will improve our understanding of the online marketplaces and the offline market routes for the trafficking of endangered plants into Western countries, supporting new avenues of investigation. By integrating insights and expertise from criminology, computer sciences and conservation science, the proposed project has also important implications for demonstrating interdisciplinary methodological developments.

The research is structured around three cumulative work-packages (WP). WP1 comprises analysis of economic, social and geographical dynamics of a sample of online marketplaces active in the UK and associated with the illegal trade of endangered plants. WP2 focuses on the policing of this criminal activity by mapping current law enforcement practices and interventions, assessing their effectiveness in the light of the findings of WP1, and identifying law enforcement's needs for more effective policing. WP3 develops and tests a digital package of resources to assist law enforcement investigations into illegal trades of endangered plants in the UK. In doing so, it promotes engagement and effective communication with a non-academic audience (law enforcement, NGOs, botanic gardens, international institutions). The Royal Botanic Garden (Kew, the scientific authority for CITES plant trade in the UK) and the UK Border Force are formal non-academic partners to this project.

Who will benefit from this research?
Our approach integrates criminology, computer science and conservation science to improve our understanding of plant trafficking towards the UK and develop a package of digital resources to assist law enforcement in investigating the criminal market in endangered plants. This is of interest for national law enforcement bodies working to counter this illegal trade (e.g. the National Wildlife Crime Units within the UK Police Force), as well as for national and international policy makers and law enforcement agencies looking to review (traditional and cyberspace) policing approaches (e.g. the UK Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime, the Police Advisory board for England and Wales) and NGOs (e.g. TRAFFIC, WWF).

How will they benefit from this research?
Our impact strategy aims to target UK enforcement agencies to raise awareness of the illegal trade in endangered plants and assist their policing strategies. Ultimately, "FloraGuard" will:
1) Significantly improve the understanding of socio-economic and geo-social patterns in the online-facilitated trade of endangered plants. Currently this is an under-researched area of criminality. We expect "FloraGuard" to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the marketplace, how it operates and how policing interventions could make the most effective difference to disrupt this.
2) Create a unique dataset of online illegal wildlife trade activity available today, which will be of immediate relevance for other researchers interested in this area.
3) Create and support a community of experts and practitioners crossing national, institutional and sector boundaries. The network is designed to outlast the duration of the project, providing a lasting impact for the countering of illegal plant trafficking in the UK.
4) Promote knowledge exchange and capacity-building for law enforcement. By sharing the digital tools, law enforcement agencies will be able to run analyses of the online aspects of the criminal market for themselves.

For 1) and 2), our methodology allows us to build an up-to-date dataset for selected online marketplaces for endangered plants. This approach has potential applications for other forms of online criminality (e.g. arms trafficking). The data collected will be released to authorised parties starting from month 15, so that law enforcement and cyber-security professionals in areas other than the illegal wildlife trade can build upon our work.

For 3) and 4), we will engage with Project Partners throughout the duration of the project, with their ideas and expertise shaping the project outcomes. This is important as we want to motivate our Partners to champion our policy paper and the digital package of resources in the medium term and see them shape future governmental policy. Bilateral meetings will discuss progress, methodological issues and preliminary results at key milestones (see Gantt Charts). Additional online meetings will take place to keep partners updated and get feedback. We will also establish a secure social network accessible from the project website for sharing updates and facilitate the direct involvement of partners in developing the digital resources.

The final part of each WP will focus on delivering policy level impact. We will use the expertise at PublicPolicyISouthampton to create "science-to-policy" outputs to be distributed via the project website and a final workshop in Southampton. We will also work with our Partners to provide briefing for governmental committees and charities including the Environment Agency, the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales and the British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. At the final workshop, champions from each Partner will be identified to ensure our outputs are followed through to include our results in the next UK Border Agency strategy and the UK Government Commitment to Action on the illegal wildlife trade.