Wildlife hunting across borders: (Il-)legal value chains in conservation areas

• Applicants: Dr. Linus Kalvelage; Professor Dr. Frank Neubacher
• Subject Area: Criminology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 562072820

Big game hunting in sub-Saharan Africa is a controversially debated topic. Some prefer bans on hunting, while others argue for the legalisation of trade in wildlife products. Both changes in legislation and international demand are deeply affecting the way nature is commodified in countries of origin, thus shaping the livelihoods and ecologies of sub-Saharan Africa. Germany and other European countries are important transit points for illegal wildlife products. By combining a criminological perspective with an economic geography lens, this project aims to assess the interface between illegal and legal wildlife value chains and understand the linkages between law changes on the one hand, and the production and traffic of (il-)legal wildlife products on the other hand. We assume that legal and illegal ways of commodifying wildlife coexist and partly overlap in many conservation areas. The theoretical framework will mainly consist of two criminological theories: the routine activity approach and the techniques of neutralization. As research area we focus on the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) in the border region of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. It will be assessed under which circumstances wildlife is transformed into commodities and how different legal frameworks affect the production of wildlife. We also follow the value chain up to the circulation of wildlife products through transit countries, including Germany. We analyse legislations, data and statistics on (il-)legal (trophy) hunting and conduct expert interviews respectively focus group discussions with local stakeholders from the legal sector (such as hunting tourism entrepreneurs, conservancy staff, local communities) and stakeholders from both sides of the illegal sector (sentenced poachers, anti-poaching units, customs officers, domestic and international law enforcement officials).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria, Namibia
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. Javier Revilla Diez
• Cooperation Partners: Selma Lendelvo; Dr. Lucas Pius Rutina; Professor Dr. Andreas Schloenhardt; Dr. Stefan Schulz