Breaking The Brand To Stop The Demand

Transcription

1 Breaking The Brand To Stop The Demand Who is driving the current demand for rhino horn? The Breaking The Brand Project is supported by:

2 Introduction Demand for rhino horn began to increase rapidly from Outlined in this workbook is the background to what is driving the current rhino poaching crisis. We hope that this gives you the information to help inform tourists and your community about where the majority of the demand is coming from. Only through knowing the real and full picture can we engage people to challenge the current users to stop buying rhino horn. As long as old myths persist, we will struggle to get the necessary behaviour change to secure the survival of rhinos in the wild. The rhino poaching statistics from South Africa show the rapid rise in poaching (as of May 2014): So who are the current users of rhino horn and where do they come from? Historically, China has been a key market for rhino horn. Research by organisations such as TRAFFIC show that the main customers for rhino horn, driving the current poaching crisis, live in Viet Nam. Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 2

3 Asia Region Historically China has been a user of rhino horn for traditional medicine and for ceremonial cups China s Population: billion (2012) Rhinos became extinct in China in the late 1600 s Viet Nam has been circled to show its location in the Asia Region Viet Nam Viet Nam s Population: million (2012) Rhinos became extinct in Viet Nam in 2011 Users of real rhino horn mainly live and work in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City 90% of what is sold in Viet Nam as rhino horn is fake Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 3

4 Both China and Viet Nam have experienced strong economic growth in the last 2 decades and the number of wealthy people is continuously increasing. China experienced continuous and rapid economic growth since around 1993 Viet Nam experienced continuous economic growth, which has accelerated since So if we plot all these factors alongside the statistic showing the rise in rhino poaching: Undoubtedly, some of the rhinos killed in Africa and Asia will go to the Chinese medicine trade and efforts need to continue to bring this to an end. This is likely to be a small percentage of the rhinos being poached. We need to consider that even though wealth in China started to grow steeply from 1993, there was no evidence that this affected the rhino poaching numbers, at least in South Africa, for 15 years. So this indicates that the recent spike in demand for rhino horn is not strongly associated with use in traditional Chinese medicine. Often people feel that they can t challenge something so old and entrenched as medicinal practices going back many hundreds of years. So it is useful to know that what is driving the current demand is a new fashion in a young population; 70% of people in Viet Nam are under the age of 35 years. From a brand breaking and demand reduction perspective it is much better that the spike in rhino horn demand is a new trend/fad this makes it easier to stop. This is the case for users in Viet Nam. Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 4

5 Main users in Viet Nam Wealthy Businessmen Wealthy businessmen give rhino horn as a gift to negotiate business deals or to gain favours, or They grind it into water to use as detox drink at the end of a night of socialising with peers again, it is a status symbol, they know that there is no health benefit Total number is estimated between 5,000 and 10,000 men living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Only 2 motivations to stop: Negative impact on status Negative impact on health of drinking poisoned rhino horn Affluent Mothers Give to children as a health supplement /medication They also buy for aging /sick parents 2 motivations to stop Negative impact on health of drinking poisoned rhino horn for self, child or sick parent Negative impact on status Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 5

6 Typical user of genuine rhino horn Mr L: (from TRAFFIC Factsheet, see Appendix A) A 48 year old property developer Married for 24 years Large four-bedroom house in the Ciputra (see images) area of Hanoi He has two children aged 19 & 21 He is focused on his social status and wants to be seen as a leader Recommendations from his social/business circles are extremely influential Career, success, financial security, family preservation, social status and peer lifestyle are top priorities for him He believes that rhino horn is a badge of wealth, power, social status and hard work. 1. Based on Humane Society research 75% of Vietnamese people know it is illegal to buy rhino horn. 2. Farmed rhinos do not have the same status as wild rhinos with Vietnamese customers. Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 6

7 Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 7

8 In Summary Current measures to save the rhino are underway throughout the protection supply - demand chain. We would recommend additional focus on changing the purchasing behaviour of the primary users of rhino horn to reduce demand and save rhinos from extinction in the wild. Given this, it is important to know the primary users driving the current poaching levels: 1. They live in Viet Nam, mainly in the wealthy suburbs of Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City 2. They are businessmen and affluent mothers (probably the wives of the businessmen) 3. The value of rhino horn is mainly symbolic and a new fashion; it is not entrenched in ancient culture 4. 70% of the Vietnamese population is under the age of 35 years 5. There are only about 20,000 users of genuine rhino: a. 5,000 10,000 businessmen (who use the largest amount) and b. Their wives who are likely to be buying a mixture of genuine and fake rhino horn for their children and aging parent 6. 90% of all rhino horn sold in Viet Nam is fake, e.g. buffalo horn from China. Not being able to distinguish real rhino horn from fake is likely to be helping the rhino s survival 7. The users only have 2 motivations to stop: a. Negative impact on their personal status b. Negative impact on their personal health and health of family and associates The users have no or very little empathy with the animal. Campaigns in the form of an appeal to protect a species will, in the main, be ignored by the users of rhino horn. Importantly, there is no pressure on the users in Viet Nam to stop buying rhino horn if China is constantly put forward as the driver of rhino poaching. This allows the Vietnamese users of rhino horn to fly under the radar. As a result they receive minimal pressure to change their buying habits. We hope you find this information useful as you help tourists and your community build an understanding of wildlife poaching and its causes. Breaking the Brand, 2014 P a g e 8

9 Appendix A: TRAFFIC Factsheet on Vietnamese users of rhino horn

10 Link to factsheet: file:///c:/users/lynn/downloads/consumers_factsheet_final%20(2).pdf

11 Appendix B: Recent article from New Scientist Magazine Link to article: