The Nexus of Wildlife Trafficking, Development and Security: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Research
Panzarella, Federica (2020)
2020
Turvallisuushallinnon maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Security Management
Johtamisen ja talouden tiedekunta - Faculty of Management and Business
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2020-11-05
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202010267495
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202010267495
Tiivistelmä
There is a growing debate about the effects and risks that illegal trade in wildlife poses on ecosystems and environment as well as on human population and its development. The target of this thesis is to investigate the interlinkages that connect the concept of wildlife trafficking with human development and security aspects. In order to do so, an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach is employed. This consists in a preliminary systematic review of the literature followed by an analysis of secondary data - more specifically, percentages of threatened animal species by country are correlated with different indicators. These are human development index, corruption perception index, global terrorism index, peace index and worldwide governance indicators.
Despite the large literature on the topic, there seem to be an increasing agreement among experts about the lack of empirical evidence at the basis of the connection of wildlife trade with human security and development. By aggregating the findings of the two methods, this research work confirms that inconsistencies exist at various levels and the correlation of wildlife trafficking with security and development aspects is neither sufficiently supported by empirical verification in the existing literature nor evident links among the three spheres emerge from quantitative analyses as conducted in this study. Despite the limited scope of this research, the results do not lead to evidence of the nexus of wildlife trafficking and security as well as the one of wildlife trafficking and development, confirming the assumption that the narratives that connect wildlife trade with organized crime, conflict, terrorism, rule of law and weak states, impediment in development and human security threats may actually be a consequence of securitization discourses that have taken over at a global level. However, while oversimplistic assumptions on the nexus should be avoided due to the potential negative externalities they may generate, additional research is necessary to further investigate the dynamics and implications that illegal wildlife trafficking may have on security and development and vice versa. The gathering of more detailed data on wildlife crime may actually contribute to broaden the scope of current researches.
Despite the large literature on the topic, there seem to be an increasing agreement among experts about the lack of empirical evidence at the basis of the connection of wildlife trade with human security and development. By aggregating the findings of the two methods, this research work confirms that inconsistencies exist at various levels and the correlation of wildlife trafficking with security and development aspects is neither sufficiently supported by empirical verification in the existing literature nor evident links among the three spheres emerge from quantitative analyses as conducted in this study. Despite the limited scope of this research, the results do not lead to evidence of the nexus of wildlife trafficking and security as well as the one of wildlife trafficking and development, confirming the assumption that the narratives that connect wildlife trade with organized crime, conflict, terrorism, rule of law and weak states, impediment in development and human security threats may actually be a consequence of securitization discourses that have taken over at a global level. However, while oversimplistic assumptions on the nexus should be avoided due to the potential negative externalities they may generate, additional research is necessary to further investigate the dynamics and implications that illegal wildlife trafficking may have on security and development and vice versa. The gathering of more detailed data on wildlife crime may actually contribute to broaden the scope of current researches.