Wildlife & Nature Economics
The Economics of Poaching
How demand, prices, enforcement and poverty shape illegal hunting of rhinos and other animals, and what economic tools can reduce it.
Poaching is the illegal hunting or capture of wild animals. It is driven by high prices for products such as rhino horn, ivory, pangolin scales and tiger parts. The illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year.
An economic view
Poachers weigh expected benefits against expected costs:
- Benefits: the price paid for animal parts, often huge relative to local incomes.
- Costs: the probability of being caught, the penalty and the risk of injury.
This follows Gary Becker’s economic model of crime.
Why rhino horn is so valuable
Rhino horn has been used in traditional medicine and as a status symbol in parts of Asia, although it is made of keratin, like fingernails, with no proven medical value. Its price has at times rivalled that of gold by weight.
Kaziranga
Kaziranga National Park in Assam is home to roughly two-thirds of the world’s greater one-horned rhinos. Strict protection, armed guards and community involvement helped rhino numbers grow. In 2021, Assam publicly burned a large stockpile of rhino horns to send a message that horns had no value and would never be sold.
Tools to reduce poaching
Raising costs for poachers:
- More patrols, better technology such as drones and camera traps.
- Stronger penalties and prosecution.
- Intelligence targeting trafficking networks.
Reducing demand:
- Awareness campaigns in consumer countries.
- Market bans, like China’s ivory ban.
Changing local incentives:
- Jobs and income from conservation for local communities.
- Rewards for information.
The balloon effect
Enforcement in one place can push poaching elsewhere. Tackling demand and trafficking networks is needed alongside local protection.
A villager near a national park is offered money by a trafficker to guide poachers. The park runs a reward scheme and employs local youth as guards. He reports the trafficker instead, earning a reward and protecting a source of local tourism jobs.
Demand, prices, trafficking networks and local incentives all need to be addressed.
- Poaching is driven by high prices for animal parts.
- Poachers weigh benefits against the risk and penalties of being caught.
- Kaziranga protects about two-thirds of the world's greater one-horned rhinos.
- Enforcement, demand reduction and local incentives work together.
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