LEAD Conservation

The LEAD Conservation team would like to congratulate Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Republic of Indonesia and their partner WCS Indonesia on winning the Herman Goldstein Award. Their problem-oriented project on snaring in Way Kambas National Park was able to reduce snaring by more than 80% by speaking to hunters, learning about their motivations, and developing an appropriate intervention. Hunting was driving by a need for income and with a targeted alternative livelihood program, the people involved were able to abandon hunting and develop new ways to meet their daily needs. It is important to note that this problem had been around for many years, and patrol was the standard response to make it go away. The team decided to trial a problem-oriented approach, as this has been shown to help law enforcement better tackle the root causes of a problem and is a proven method for reducing crime and disorder. Problem solving requires teams to analyse problems in depth, find tailored solutions based on the analysis, and evaluate their impact. The beauty of a problem-oriented approach is that it helps organisations find holistic solutions that are mutually beneficial to wildlife and communities. In this case, snaring in the landscape reduced dramatically, reducing risk to tigers and their prey. On the community front, the individuals that abandoned hunting found more stable streams of income and reintegrated into the social fabric of their community as they shifted to legitimate sources of income. The ex-hunters indicated this social benefit was extremely important to their personal lives. LEAD is very proud to have provided training and mentorship to the Wildlife Conservation Society team during their innovative work. The problem-oriented approach requires organisational commitment and a shift in mindset, but when you put in the hard work, you get results like this. We look forward to seeing the team continue solving other problems across the landscapes in which the work with the Ministry. To read more about this project, check out the case study they wrote up for the Herman Goldstein Award. https://lnkd.in/eq9cMzMZ If you’d like to learn more about the problem-oriented approach and have LEAD support with training and mentorship, send us a message! We look forward to helping more organisations move from reactive to preventative operations to benefit wildlife and communities.

A wonderful simple yet effective initiative by IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). Listen to Boris Vos speak briefly about the benefits of training rangers to be medical first responders - not only inside the protected areas.

If you have a second, please help us out finding the best way to support and add value to your organisation. Thanks!

Unpopular Opinion: Law Enforcement should be predictable, right? We’re not talking about operations that are aimed at discrupting crime or investigations into suspects and criminal networks. But when we’re talking about use-of-force and dealing with different levels of suspect resistance to arrest, it is very important to be predictable for the following reasons: Public Safety and Trust: When the public can predict how rangers will respond to various levels of suspect resistance, it helps build trust in conservation organisations. People are more likely to feel safe and respect the rangers if they believe that rangers will act in a fair and consistent manner. Ranger Safety Predictable responses to suspect resistance help ensure that rangers follow established protocols that are designed to maximize their safety and that of others. This predictability ensures that rangers are less likely to escalate situations unnecessarily, which can reduce the risk of harm to themselves and others. Suspect Safety When suspects can predict how rangers will respond, they are more likely to comply with instructions, reducing the likelihood of escalating the situation. This predictability can prevent unnecessary use of force and potential injuries to suspects. Legal and Ethical Standards Conservation organisations with a law enforcement mandate must have guidelines and policies that outline appropriate responses to different levels of resistance. Predictable responses help ensure that rangers adhere to these standards, which can protect the organisation and individual rangers from legal liabilities and uphold ethical standards. Training and Accountability Predictable responses make it easier to train rangers effectively. Consistent training based on predictable responses helps rangers understand the appropriate actions to take in various situations. It also facilitates accountability, as deviations from standard responses can be more easily identified and addressed. Conflict De-escalation Predictable responses can help de-escalate potentially volatile situations. If suspects and bystanders know that rangers will respond in a measured and appropriate manner, they may be less likely to react violently, thus preventing escalation. Sustainable Conservation Efforts For long-term conservation success, law enforcement must be seen as fair and just. Predictable enforcement actions contribute to the perception of fairness and justice, which is vital for the sustainability of conservation efforts. When communities and stakeholders see that law enforcement operates predictably and fairly, they are more likely to support and participate in conservation initiatives. We deliver a Ranger Defensive Tactics Instructor Course. This year's courses are fully booked, but we are taking expressions of interest for 2025. Just send us a message, we're here to support.

Have you seen the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) new World Wildlife Crime report? It features up-to-date analyses of global trends and policy recommendations for wildlife crime prevention. Reading the report, it is clear that counter-wildlife crime strategies will need to adapt - the status quo is not enough to turn this problem around. Wildlife trafficking is a 'wicked' problem that will not be solved with one-size-fits-all solutions. Drivers and facilitators of wildlife crime are diverse, and prevention efforts are consistently undermined by corruption and organised crime. More importantly, we simply do not know enough about what works to make informed, evidence-based decisions regarding which prevention strategies to use. So what can we do? Surely, this is a call to action, not a call to give up! As a member of the World Wildlife Crime Report’s Scientific Advisory Committee and subject matter expert who contributed to the 'What Works' section of the report, LEAD Conservation’s Dr. Andrew M. Lemieux has some thoughts on how to turn these findings and recommendations into effective conservation strategies. · Hire analysts. Understanding complex issues requires diverse sources of information and well-trained people to turn raw data into actionable intelligence. · Be specific. Do not try to solve all your wildlife protection problems at once. Pick those causing the most harm and/or consuming the most resources. · Think outside the box. You will not be able to patrol or arrest your way out of most wildlife crime problems. Complement your law enforcement efforts with targeted social services that address drivers and facilitators. · Work together. Do what you do best and let others do the same. Form partnerships to expand your wildlife crime prevention toolbox. · Write case studies. We need a stronger body of evidence about what works to achieve impact without reinventing the wheel or wasting resources. The LEAD Analyst programme helps organisations analyse wildlife protection problems in depth, develop tailored response plans, and write case studies. Many of the resources developed by Dr. Lemieux and colleagues highlighted in the World Wildlife Crime Report as guidance for building better evidence are key resources used in our trainings. Download the World Wildlife Crime Report (https://lnkd.in/eYrtfU4w) and be sure to read through the section on What Works. You will find summaries of successful wildlife crime interventions as well as lessons-learned in crime prevention. We already know a lot about how crime responds to interventions and we need to use that knowledge. As the report states, ‘A call for better evidence is not a case for inaction due to uncertainty’ (pg. 153). The time is now. Become a part of the global evidence-based wildlife crime prevention movement! Images: PANTHERA presenting findings from their case study of deep-forest counter poaching operations during the 2022 Bush Gathering in Kenya.

Effort or Impact, or both? Conservation is all about nature protection. Everything we do is meant to ensure ecosystems are healthy for the benefit of humans and wildlife. But how do we know if what we are doing is effective or working? How do we measure the impact of our work? If you think about your monthly or donor reports, what type of metrics do you include? You might find yourself reporting the number of kilometres patrolled, how many arrests were made, or how many awareness workshops you held. These numbers are important as they show your team and those providing support the amount of effort you have put into protecting the ecosystem…but what does it say about your impact. Unfortunately, nothing at all. Effort metrics are often confused with impact. We did more patrols! We made more arrests! Excellent work…did the problem go down? If not, all the effort is not translating into positive impact. Impact metrics would focus on the problem itself, not your operations. You’d like to say you’re finding fewer snares per kilometre of patrol, or fewer elephant carcasses, or even better, more elephants! To determine what is working in wildlife protection, you have to first be able to measure threats, and then start thinking about how these change in relation to your intervention. This is often referred to as setting a baseline…how bad is your problem now? Or, how large is the population of a species you are trying to protect? Or, what percentage of people in neighbouring communities have pro-conservation attitudes? The LEAD Analyst program helps organisations set baselines and create indicator maps that track the impact of interventions. The maps not only capture how much effort you put in, but also how this impacts behaviour and ultimately the problem you are trying to reduce. Monitoring and evaluation needs to be more than a box checking exercise. If you are putting men and women into potentially dangerous situations -  such as a patrol - you need to ensure this is worth the risk and is working. If a ranger can achieve the same amount of impact with a cup of coffee, why should they be limited to patrols in the bush? Measuring and reporting on effort simply is not good enough anymore and LEAD is ready to help you take the next step. NEWS: LEAD Conservation will be publishing our new e-course on the Foundations of Problem Solving soon! #wildlife #problemsolving #wildlifecrime #conservation #impact Here's an example of an indicator map: https://lnkd.in/efdj7V8t

How to go from reaction to prevention? Wildlife protection is no easy task. Sometimes it feels like all you do is move from one ‘fire’ to the next, doing your best with limited resources. It is a vicious cycle…can it be broken? Reacting to wildlife protection issues is a standard part of the job. Wildlife depends on conservation agencies to deploy rangers and scouts to deal with threats in the ecosystem. Without these guardians, wildlife would have to fend for themselves. The question here is, can these same teams prevent problems? Could proactive operations reduce the need for reactive ones? And if so, how would that look? Problem-oriented policing (POP) was developed in the late 1970s to address these questions for public safety issues. After decades of focus on getting better at reacting to crime, such as reducing response times, Herman Goldstein noted that the policing community was suffering from the ‘means over ends syndrome’. In other words, new tactics were not resulting in less crime…something had to change. POP brought in a new way of thinking to strategy development. By picking specific problems and analysing them in depth, new options for prevention would come to light. Many times, police would realise they were not the best ones to solve a problem, but other agencies or community organisations had the right tool for the job. Research shows POP is a proven strategy for crime reduction and one that promotes ethical, holistic interventions that target the drivers and facilitators of the problem. Problem-oriented wildlife protection adapts POP to the conservation context. It provides a framework for institutionalising information-led interventions that look beyond reactive law enforcement operations. It does not remove law enforcement from the toolbox, it merely helps you determine how to use the ‘hammer’ when you need it, and when to use other prevention tools. If we want to stop running from one fire to the next, we need to think more carefully about how we react to threats. This requires working collectively in the ecosystem to diversify information sources and response options. When the only tool you have is a hammer, all of your problems start to look like nails. The LEAD Analyst program helps organizations learn the foundations of problem solving, build problem solving teams, and provides mentorship for analysis and response training. Contact us if you’d like more information about training and mentorship opportunities. NEWS: LEAD will be publishing our new e-course on the Foundations of Problem Solving soon! #wildlife #problemsolving #wildlifecrime #conservation (image by Johan Seijbel)

The Problem with Heat Maps Do poaching hot spots really exist? Of course they do! But think carefully about using patrol data to define them! Hot spots are well known fact of criminology, crime concentrates geographically. Whether you are looking at charcoaling, illegal grazing, or illegal hunting, you will normally find that certain places host more crime than others. This is great for prevention work as it helps you focus resources. Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, you can concentrate on concentrations of the problem. Defining hot spots relies on data about where crime happens. This is where things get tricky for wildlife protection issues like illegal hunting. Knowing that animals cannot ‘call the police’, data about crime locations is directly related to law enforcement efforts to detect illegal activity. We call this the silent victim problem. If you ask your analyst to ‘map the poaching hot spots’ using your patrol data, you need to keep the silent victim problem in mind. Your hot spots of illegal activity might actually be hot spots of patrol activity; more patrols, more snares found. Areas that you do not patrol have no data, which makes them appear to be crime free on your map. One way to think about evaluating your data is to consider the triple foraging process. Wildlife forages for resources, harvesters forage for wildlife, and rangers forage for harvesters. If harvesters and wildlife overlap, but there is not patrol activity, these illegal activities are never detected. It is only where the three groups overlap that we get data showing the location of wildlife protection problems. So, the next time you look at a hot spot map, take a second to think critically about the data you are viewing. What is happening in the areas that were not patrolled. If they have similar features of the areas with illegal activities, would you not expect to see crime in those areas as well? From a patrol planning perspective, you can categorize areas as (1) patrolled with no threat, (2) patrolled with threat, or (3) unpatrolled. Remember too that hot spots are just a mathematical way to visualize concentrations. Points on a map become larger spots that may cover several square kilometres depending on the resolution of your map. In reality, a large chuck of those square kilometres will not have the right opportunity structure for your crime meaning you should dive deeper into the environmental features where crime concentrates. The LEAD Analyst program helps organizations learn how to use and interpret their data for operations. We provide training and mentorship to get your analysts up to speed on the most appropriate techniques to use to make data valuable for planning. We also help managers learn more about interpreting analytic products. #wildlifeproblems #wildlifecrime #problemsolving #conservation

Exciting Opportunity: Join Our Team for Project-Based DTP Work at LEAD Conservation Hello LinkedIn Community, We hope this message finds you well. At @LEADConservation, we are embarking on an exciting initiative that calls for a talented Desktop Publishing (DTP) professional to join our team on a project basis. As we expand our conservation courses and programs, we recognize the critical role that visually appealing and informative materials play in enhancing the learning experience. About LEAD Conservation: LEAD Conservation is dedicated to developing instructors and problem-solvers for frontline conservation across Africa and beyond. We believe in the transformative power of education to drive positive change. Our courses cover a range of topics aimed at equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to deliver conservation impacts. Opportunity Overview: We are seeking an experienced Desktop Publishing specialist to contribute to the creation of essential materials, including manuals, field aide-memoires, and posters. These materials will not only accompany our courses but will also be utilized in the field throughout Africa and beyond. This is a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact on conservation education and contribute to the preservation of our planet's biodiversity. Responsibilities: - Collaborate with the team to create visually engaging and informative materials. - Ensure consistency in design elements and branding across various materials. - Adapt content for diverse audiences and learning environments. - Meet project deadlines and contribute to the overall success of our educational programs. Qualifications: - Proven experience in Desktop Publishing, graphic design, or related fields. - Proficiency in industry-standard design software (Adobe Creative Suite, etc.). - Strong attention to detail and a passion for creating impactful educational materials. - Ability to work collaboratively in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. How to Apply: If you are enthusiastic about using your DTP skills to contribute to conservation education and make a positive impact, we would love to hear from you! We don’t really care about your resume. Send us an email with some examples of your portfolio to boris@leadconservation.org. Application Deadline: 20 December 2023 Let's work together to inspire and empower the future leaders of conservation. Join us on this exciting journey at LEAD Conservation! We would appreciate sharing this opportunity with your network. Thank you. Kind regards, Boris Vos Deputy Director of Operations & Co-Founder LEAD Conservation #Conservation #Education #GraphicDesign #DTP #Opportunity#JoinOurTeam