Applying a co‐design approach with key stakeholders to design interventions to reduce illegal wildlife consumption

• Published in: People and nature (Hoboken, N.J.) N.J.), 2023-08, Vol.5 (4), p.1234-1244
• Main Authors: Hu, Sifan, Liang, Zhijian, Zhou, Kaiwen, Veríssimo, Diogo, Lee, Tien Ming, Ruan, Xiangdong, Hinsley, Amy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animal‐based medicine; Audiences; Bears; behaviour change; Bile; Biodiversity; Chinese medicine; Co-design; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Consumption; Context; demand reduction; Design thinking; Health risks; Herbal medicine; illegal wildlife trade; Innovations; Intervention; Planning; Prototypes; Risk communication; theory of change; Traditional Chinese medicine; Wildlife conservation; wildlife consumption; Wildlife trade
• ISSN: 2575-8314; 2575-8314
• DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10492

Co‐design, an approach that seeks to incorporate the experiences and perspectives of different stakeholders, is increasingly being used to develop audience‐oriented behaviour change interventions. The complexity of wildlife consumption behaviour makes the co‐design approach an important potential tool for the design of conservation interventions that aim to reduce illegal wildlife trade. Yet, little is known about how to adapt and apply the co‐design approach to the wildlife trade sector. Here, we applied a co‐design approach to develop interventions aimed at reducing illegal animal‐based medicine consumption in China. We conducted three workshops with key stakeholders: consumers of animal‐based medicines, pharmacy workers who sell them and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors who prescribe them. We then developed a theory of change to ensure the relevance of the co‐designed intervention prototypes. Our co‐design process identified five main pathways of interventions, including two inclusive solutions that may have been previously overlooked in behaviour change work in this context. These were an intervention to promote the appropriate use of TCM and one to increase consumers' capacity to identify the legality of products. Our prototype interventions also enhanced existing views related to the role of medical practitioners in health‐risk communication. We used our co‐design process and reflections on its application to this specific market to provide guidelines for future conservation program planning in the broader wildlife trade context. Some intervention prototypes produced during co‐design may need wider stakeholder involvement to increase their feasibility for implementation. We show that the co‐design process can integrate multiple stakeholders' perspectives in the ideation stage, and has the potential to produce inclusive intervention designs that could drive innovation in conservation efforts to reduce illegal consumption of a range of wild species. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. 摘要 协同设计法是一种将不同利益相关者经验和观点融入行为改变干预设计的方法，已在越来越多的面向目标群体的行为改变干预中得到应用。 野生动物消费行为的复杂性使协同设计法成为了设计保护干预措施、减少非法贸易的重要探索方式。然而，尚缺乏研究来阐明这种方法在野生动物贸易领域的适用性和应用方法。 本研究应用协同设计法设计了旨在减少中国非法动物药用消费的干预措施。我们分别针对三个关键利益相关方群体进行了三场独立的动物类药品消费协同设计同工作坊:消费者、药店职员和中医医生。随后，我们基于变革理论，梳理了相应的行为改变干预方案。 我们的协同设计过程共确定了五条干预路径，其中包括在动物类药用消费的行为改变中可能被忽视的两条包容性路径:一是促进中药的正确使用，另一是提升消费者对含野生动物成分药品的合法性辨识能力。此外，我们的干预方案还强调了中医药专家在健康风险类信息传递中的重要角色。 我们通过对协同设计法在野生动物贸易领域的应用过程进行梳理和反思，为未来在更广泛