USAID hosts Demand Reduction Steering Group Meeting in Thailand focusing One Health and Wild Meat Consumption

Similar campaigns to reduce consumer demand for wildlife products are being implemented by different organizations across the ASEAN region with little coordination, resulting in decreased cost-efficiencies and effectiveness.  To address this issue, USAID Reducing Demand for Wildlife (RDW) has been supporting the Demand Reduction Steering Group (DRSG) in Thailand led by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.  On June 21, the second quarterly DRSG meeting for 2022 was held with 30 representatives from CWT donors as well as local and foreign conservation NGOs.  Based on the theme of One Health, DRSG partners shared current and planned research and campaigns to reduce demand for wild meat to prevent zoonotic disease risk.  For the first time, partners from outside Thailand participated. Participants agreed that the issue of reducing demand for wild meat would benefit from a regionally coordinated campaign as research reveals that consumer profiles and drivers to consumption are similar.  As a next step, a stakeholder workshop will be organized by USAID RDW to design a wild meat campaign for Thailand that may be replicated regionally. Strengthened coordination among organizations implementing campaigns to reduce demand for wildlife products enhances behavior change towards decreasing purchase and consumption of wildlife products.