If you had a million dollars, what species would you save? Building an evidence-based conservation catalyst fund to reduce threats of wildlife trafficking.

Dr. Jen Miller

International Program Specialist, US Fish and Wildlife Service

Abstract

The design of conservation funding programs is not always strategic, let alone cross-disciplinary or systems-oriented, and yet donor organizations strongly influence conservation priorities globally. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s International Affairs Program is a major funder of wildlife conservation globally and is currently strengthening its approach to evidence-based and cross-disciplinary program design. In 2019, its Combating Wildlife Trafficking Program began a multi-year endeavor to develop the Species Conservation Catalyst Fund, a new accelerator-model financial assistance initiative that invests $5 million over 10 years per species to reduce the illegal, unsustainable trade of ‘underdog’ priority species. This talk describes the multi-scale adaptive planning process that our team of social scientists, wildlife biologists and financial assistance specialists implemented to develop rigorous program- and species-level strategies that consider the socio-ecological drivers of wildlife trade. We also discuss the real-world opportunities and challenges of building a new conservation program compliant with government policy and aligned with organizational goals. Since launching the Species Conservation Catalyst Fund in 2022, the program has invested $3.6 million on cheetah trade, $3.2 million on saiga antelope trade and $1.5 million on songbird trade, and has a clear roadmap for future investments in both the ecological and social dynamics of wildlife trade.