Fenglian Li, of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) China Program, intends to use the grant to expand upon the work of 2009 small grant winner Guihong Zhang, addressing the illegal trade of saiga antelope horn in Guangzhou, China (see corresponding Articles in Saiga News 11 and 12).
Specifically Fenglian’s program aims to continue to monitor the level of saiga horn trade activity in the Qingping Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) market, to conduct an educational outreach program for people engaged in this trade, and to support the work of local TCM law enforcement agencies.
Guihong Zang’s project established the availability and price of saiga products within Guangzhou’s TCM market. Fenglian plans to build upon this work to establish the source, route and final destination of saiga products, allowing for a fuller understanding of the underlying trade mechanism and facilitating geographically focused education and enforcement efforts.
Fenglian’s work is particularly important as it addresses the demand side of illegal saiga trade, an area which has traditionally been underrepresented in saiga conservation.