Conservation and International Wildlife Trade MSc

University of Kent

The MSc in Conservation and International Wildlife Trade provides you with the knowledge base to address trade regulation and management at both the national and international levels.

International wildlife trade is big business and ranges from high volume timber and fishery products to the more traditional wildlife products from endangered species used in horticultural, pet, leather and medicinal trades. International trade and over-use are implicated in the decline of around one third of threatened species.

Equally, many of the world’s poorest people depend on the use or sale of wildlife products for their livelihood. Meeting the twin goals of reducing poverty and stemming the rate of species loss requires improved management of trade in natural resources.

The programme examines the dynamics of international wildlife trade from all angles: the practical mechanisms set up to regulate wildlife trade, the ecological assumptions, social, cultural and economic drivers of trade, along with the challenges, pressures and the political environment that underlines relevant international law and policy.

This pathway is designed for people from areas such as government management and scientific authorities, NGOs, international agencies and donors who are working to improve sustainability of wildlife trade. It examines a number of mechanisms for delivering sustainable wildlife trade, especially the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), with whom DICE has developed a Memorandum of Understanding to offer this pathway.