SePPCon 2024 Keynote Presentation: The Case for Socio-ecological Harm Reduction in the Illegal Plant Trade

Global illegal trade in ornamentally desirable plants increasingly presents a critical conservation as well as social development challenge. In part inspired by other law-enforcement first responses to illegal wildlife trade, many countries, conservation organizations, and conservation advocates are seeking harsher sentencing laws and punishments for people found guilty of plant poaching or wildlife trafficking. I will draw on my research from over the past eight years on illegal wildlife trade in ornamental plants in both global and North American contexts, including ongoing research on poaching of Venus flytraps in North Carolina, against this turn towards criminalization to make an argument for socioecological harm reduction in the illegal plant trade. The nature of wildlife trade prohibition is complex and often contested, and many actors operating in illegal wildlife trades dispute the label of illegal for socioeconomic, cultural, historical, and/or political reasons. This contestation is crucial when considering both Indigenous and other historically marginalized communities’ cultural values of plants, especially where cultural groups or communities question the criminalization of plant harvesting practices as a criminalization of traditional lifeways or livelihood opportunities. A socioecological harm reduction approach to illegal wildlife trade emphasizes community engagement, sustainable use, and codesigned interventions. Such an approach could help balance the scales of ecological conservation and human dignity in the face of growing wildlife trade challenges.