Metadata for the Beastly Business Project: Illegal Wildlife Trade, 2021-2023

Duffy, Rosaleen and Iordachescu, George and Hutchinson, Alison and Lappe-Osthege, Teresa and Gutierrez, Laura and Burns, Charlotte (2023). Metadata for the Beastly Business Project: Illegal Wildlife Trade, 2021-2023. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856776

The Beastly Business Project focused on IWT in European species, specifically the trade in European brown bears, European eels and songbirds. It delivered new empirical data and a novel analytical framework that synthesises the strengths of two key approaches – political ecology and green criminology.
Europe is a key area for sourcing, consuming and transporting wildlife, but this is overlooked in academic and policy debates; instead IWT tends to be presented as a problem of Africa and Asia. In policies to tackle IWT Europe is often identified only as a transit route for wildlife products trafficked from source (typically assumed to be Africa) to consumer (typically assumed to be Asia). This misses the importance of IWT within Europe and in European species. Focusing on IWT in Europe is important because it is a key driver of biodiversity loss, and it has become a prominent policy issue in the EU.

Data description (abstract)

The Beastly Business Project focused on IWT in European species, specifically the trade in European brown bears, European eels and songbirds. It delivered new empirical data and a novel analytical framework that synthesises the strengths of two key approaches – political ecology and green criminology. Europe is a key area for sourcing, consuming and transporting wildlife, but this is overlooked in academic and policy debates; instead IWT tends to be presented as a problem of Africa and Asia. In policies to tackle IWT Europe is often identified only as a transit route for wildlife products trafficked from source (typically assumed to be Africa) to consumer (typically assumed to be Asia). This misses the importance of IWT within Europe and in European species. Focusing on IWT in Europe is important because it is a key driver of biodiversity loss, and it has become a prominent policy issue in the EU. Due to ethical constrains the data cannot be shared outside of the project group.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Duffy Rosaleen	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6779-7240
Iordachescu George	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6289-6581
Hutchinson Alison	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1535-4154
Lappe-Osthege Teresa	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3853-2016
Gutierrez Laura	University of Liverpool	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4641-0737
Burns Charlotte	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9944-0417

Sponsors:

Economic and Social Research Council

Grant reference:

ES/V00929X/1

Topic classification:

Natural environment
Law, crime and legal systems
Politics
Trade, industry and markets

Keywords:

CAPITALISM, TRADE, CITES, INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS, NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, POLITICAL ECOLOGY

Project title:

Beastly Business: Examining the illegal trade in bears, eels and songbirds in Europe

Grant holders:

Rosaleen Duffy, Charlotte Burns

Project dates:

From	To
1 April 2021	31 July 2023

Date published:

10 Nov 2023 16:40

Last modified:

10 Nov 2023 16:41

Coverage and Methodology

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

Interviews were audio recorded with the explicit consent (in writing) from the interviewee. Audio recordings were transcribed by a University approved third party private company, UK Transcription Services. The audio recordings and transcripts were anonymised, given a dedicated file name and stored in separate secure google drives (part of the University of Sheffield googledrive).Paper copies of the transcripts were not generated. Transcripts were allocated a pseudonym. A master list of the pseudonym linked to audio and transcripts was created and was only accessible to the project PI and project manager. Team members attended key events such as hunting expos and the CITES CoP19. Notes and photographs were taken at the events. No individuals are named in the notes, and when photographs were used on the website, the faces of individuals were blurred out. Due to ethical constrains the data cannot be shared outside of the project group.

Rights owners:

Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Duffy Rosaleen	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6779-7240
Burns Charlotte	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9944-0417
Iordachescu George	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6289-6581
Hutchinson Alison	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1535-4154
Lappe-Osthege Teresa	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3853-2016
Gutierrez Laura	University of Liverpool	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4641-0737

Contact:

Name	Email	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Duffy, Rosaleen	r.v.duffy@sheffield.ac.uk	University of Sheffield	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6779-7240

Notes on access:

The Data Collection only consists of metadata and documentation as the data could not be archived due to legal, ethical or commercial constraints. For further information, please contact the contact person for this data collection.

Publisher:

UK Data Service

Last modified:

10 Nov 2023 16:41