"The Extinction Market: Wildlife Trafficking in Asia”, a Conversation with Vanda Felbab-Brown
Poaching and wildlife trafficking are rife, yet there is still no consensus on how to combat them. The impacts of these practices extend far beyond the devastating loss of biodiversity and can be a threat to national security, human security, and economic development — particularly of forest-dependent communities. The challenges faced in Asia, with an illegal market worth millions of dollars, is significant and requires high-level policy responses. But how can wildlife trafficking be combatted? And are there initiatives from other areas, such as drug trafficking, which can help shape effective policy responses?
Dr Felbab-Brown joins Mr Sebastian von Einsiedel, Director of the UNU Centre for Policy Research, for a conversation on how to balance the interests of local, national, and transnational actors in the fight against wildlife trafficking, and Asia’s role in this illegal trade.
About the speaker
Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown is Senior Fellow at the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. Her most recent book, The Extinction Market: Wildlife Trafficking and How to Counter It (2017), provides a global perspective on wildlife trafficking and policy-oriented solutions.
Dr Felbab-Brown is a leading expert on conflict, non-traditional security threats, and illicit economies such as drug trafficking, wildlife trafficking, and illegal logging and mining. She has authored a range of policy reports, academic articles, and books in her area of expertise, for which she has received numerous awards. She also provides regular briefings for the US administration, the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and NATO.
Prior to Brookings, Dr Felbab-Brown was Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and has taught at universities and military schools across the United States and Europe. She holds a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007) and a BA from Harvard University (1999).
