Project Spotlight

Project type: Systems Strategy Advisory

Client: Global Family Foundation

Issue Area: Wildlife Conservation

Geographical Area: South-east Asia

A global family foundation was exploring how to expand its animal welfare portfolio in Southeast Asia. Before making funding decisions, it needed a clearer understanding of the landscape—and where philanthropic capital could help shift the underlying system, rather than simply respond to its symptoms.

Helping a Family Foundation Navigate the Complex System of Wildlife Trade in South-east Asia

The Challenge

Wildlife trade linked to traditional medicine continues to pose serious risks to biodiversity, animal welfare, public health, and community livelihoods across Southeast Asia. While important efforts are underway across enforcement, demand reduction, policy advocacy, community and industry engagement, and research, these interventions remain fragmented. As a result, the wider system continues to make wildlife trade high reward and low risk.

Our Approach

A systems landscape assessment combined a desk review of existing literature with interviews across NGOs, funders, private-sector actors and subject-matter experts. These conversations surfaced practitioner insights, emerging trends and funding perspectives that are often absent from published literature, resulting in a more nuanced understanding of the system.

These were synthesised into a systems map that revealed the core dynamics sustaining wildlife trade linked to traditional medicine. At the heart of the system lies a powerful economic engine: high profits combined with low perceived risk, reinforced through interactions across three interconnected domains:

• Governance & Enforcement

• Ecology & Extraction

• Beliefs & Information

The systems map was validated through follow-up discussions with a selected group of interviewees, strengthening confidence in the analysis and refining the key system dynamics. This process surfaced recurring patterns, emerging bright spots and underfunded leverage points across both the demand and supply sides.

Together, these insights informed a set of strategic recommendations grounded in a twin-track logic: shifting the system requires coordinated action on both supply and demand, rather than treating interventions such as enforcement and behaviour change for demand reduction as separate agendas.

Did You Know?

Recent historical research found that:

• More insect species are listed in official traditional medicine reference texts than any other animal group.

• Since the 20th century, fish have experienced the greatest increase in the number of species listed in semi-official traditional medicine reference texts.

• Yet we still know surprisingly little about how the use of many of these species affects their populations in the wild.

Source: NUS Asia Research Institute – Medicinal Animals in Asia

Outcome

The project equipped the foundation with a strategic overview of the wildlife trade–traditional medicine landscape, enabling more informed decisions about where and how philanthropic capital could contribute.

The assessment helped the client:

• Develop a shared understanding of a complex and rapidly evolving issue.

• Identify opportunities beyond traditionally well-funded interventions.

• Navigate a rapidly changing funding landscape with greater confidence.

• Build an evidence-informed foundation for future grant-making discussions.

Photo Credit: Karl Ammann

Photo Credit: Karl Ammann