Mesoamerica is the world's third largest biodiversity hotspot and has c. 4,000 wildlife species protected under CITES. Despite the high biodiversity in the region, there is limited global attention, data and funding for conservation. The continued exploitation of wildlife species for the trade requires a more proactive approach to address emerging trends, and low-cost and effective solutions to prevent species decline. Over a 5-month period in 2017, we used expert-driven horizon scanning, facilitated online, to identify emerging trends of the illegal wildlife trade in Mesoamerica. We found that the main emerging trends included digital and technological advancements, greater regional access to the global community, developments in trafficking techniques and growing demand for certain species. Our findings demonstrate that horizon scanning can be used as a tool for identifying emerging trends of illegal wildlife trade in data-poor contexts. We recommend that horizon scanning is used regularly for systematic monitoring of trends and to prioritize resources for immediate and emerging trends in illegal wildlife trade.

中文翻译：

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中美洲非法野生动物贸易的新趋势

中美洲是世界第三大生物多样性热点地区，拥有 c。4,000 种野生动物物种受 CITES 保护。尽管该地区的生物多样性很高，但全球对保护的关注、数据和资金有限。继续利用野生动物物种进行贸易需要更积极主动的方法来应对新出现的趋势，以及防止物种衰退的低成本和有效的解决方案。在 2017 年的 5 个月期间，我们使用专家驱动的水平扫描，在线协助，以确定中美洲非法野生动物贸易的新趋势。我们发现主要的新兴趋势包括数字和技术进步、更大的区域进入全球社区、贩运技术的发展以及对某些物种的需求不断增长。我们的研究结果表明，地平线扫描可用作在数据匮乏的情况下识别非法野生动物贸易新趋势的工具。我们建议定期使用水平扫描来系统地监测趋势，并为非法野生动物贸易的即时和新趋势优先考虑资源。