In their recent academic paper, Senior Research Fellow Annette Hübschle, with the Global Risk Governance Programme at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and GEOG’s Associate Professor Meredith L. Gore explore the unexpected resilience, adaptability, and innovation demonstrated by the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) in South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, the paper critically reviews the Frictions and Flows framework, focusing on the illegal wildlife trade as a globally distributed form of nature crime.

The researchers emphasize the significance of understanding illegal economies, such as the IWT, to better cope with the consequences of global environmental change. The COVID-19 pandemic, described as an exogenous shock, has brought disruptive changes with potential threats to existence and livelihoods, prompting the need for lessons in resilience from unconventional sources.

Key Findings:

• Resilience Strategies: The paper identifies resilience strategies employed by the illegal wildlife trade under varying levels of pandemic measures—strict, moderate, and lenient. The ability of illegal economies to innovate in response to environmental changes and global crises is highlighted.
• Frictions and Flows Framework: The researchers introduce the Frictions and Flows framework, which explores the interfaces between legal and illegal flows. This framework helps analyze how actors in illegal economies cope with endogenous and exogenous stressors across different environments.
• Market Features: The study points to features in illegal economies that render actors and markets more resilient, shock-resistant, and flexible. Despite the destructive impacts of illicit trades on sustainable development, political stability, and global security, the paper identifies observations relevant to resilience and global environmental change.
• Lessons for Legal Economies: The researchers argue that lessons learned from the illegal wildlife trade's resilience during the pandemic can offer insights for legal economies. By adapting aspects of illegal economic activities within moral, ethical, and legal boundaries, legal markets may enhance their shock resistance and flexibility.

The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding systemic gender dynamics associated with IWT and its impacts on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. The authors believe that the Frictions and Flows framework provides essential perspectives for understanding the impact of internal and external stressors on the flow of resources, people, and money, contributing valuable insights to the science of the total environment.