[1] Wildlife Conservancy Society. (2021). Why Should we Care about Wildlife Trafficking? Retrieved from https://wildlifetrade.wcs.org/Wildlife-Trade/Why-should-we-care.aspx
術語表
客戶:將實施擬議項目的行動者。他們可能是官方行動者(政府或準政府)或非官方行動者(非政府組織)。
非法野生動物貿易:走私、偷獵以及捕捉或收集瀕危物種、受保護野生動物或這些物種的衍生品/產品。
MCM/ICM免費領真題請掃碼【翰林提供報名服務】
Problem F: Reducing Illegal Wildlife Trade
Illegal wildlife trade negatively impacts our environment and threatens global biodiversity. It is estimated to involve up to 26.5 billion US dollars per year and is considered to be the fourth largest of all global illegal trades.[1] You are to develop a data-driven 5-year project designed to make a notable reduction in illegal wildlife trade. Your goal is to convince a client to carry out your project. To do this, you must select both a client and an appropriate project for that client.
Your work should explore the following sub-questions:
·Who is your client? What can that client realistically do? (In other words, your client should have the powers, resources, and interest needed to enact the project you propose.)
·Explain why the project you developed is suitable for this client. What research, from published literature and from your own analyses, supports the selection of your proposed project? Using a data-driven analysis, how will you convince your client that this is a project they should undertake?
·What additional powers and resources will your client need to carry out the project? (Remember to use assumptions, but also ground your work in reality as much as you are able.)
·If the project is carried out what will happen? In other words, what will the measurable impact on illegal wildlife trade be? What analysis did you do to determine this?
·How likely is the project to reach the expected goal? Also, based on a contextualized sensitivity analysis, are there conditions or events that may disproportionately aid or harm the project's ability to reach its goal?
While you could limit your approach to illegal wildlife trade, you may also consider illegal wildlife trade as part of a larger complex system. Specifically, you could consider how other global efforts in other domains, e.g., efforts to curtail other forms of trafficking or efforts to reduce climate change coupled with efforts to curtail illegal wildlife trade, may be part of a complex system. This may create synergistic opportunities for unexpected actors in this domain.
If you choose to leverage a complexity framework in your solution, be sure to justify your choice by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of this modeling decision.
Additionally, your team must submit a 1-page memo with key points for your client, highlighting your 5-year project proposal and why the project is right for them as a client (e.g., access to resources, part of their mandate, aligns with their mission statement, etc.).
The judges will specifically be looking for creativity in the selection of the client and in the selection and justification of appropriate modeling processes used throughout the analysis. They will also be looking for exposition that both (1) establishes strong connections between the client and the proposed project and (2) draws clear and direct ties between the data analysis and the design of the proposed project.
Your PDF solution of no more than 25 total pages should include:
·One-page summary sheet that clearly describes your approach to the problem and your most important conclusions from your analysis in the context of the problem.
·Table of Contents.
·Your complete solution.
·One-page memo to your client.
·References list.
·AI Use Report (if used)
Note: There is no specific required minimum page length for a complete MCM submission. You may use up to 25 total pages for all your solution work and any additional information you want to include (for example: drawings, diagrams, calculations, tables). Partial solutions are accepted. We permit the careful use of AI such as ChatGPT, although it is not necessary to create a solution to this problem. If you choose to utilize a generative AI, you must follow the COMAP AI use policy. This will result in an additional AI use report that you must add to the end of your PDF solution file and does not count toward the 25 total page limit for your solution.
References
[1] Wildlife Conservancy Society. (2021). Why Should we Care about Wildlife Trafficking? Retrieved from https://wildlifetrade.wcs.org/Wildlife-Trade/Why-should-we-care.aspx
Glossary
Client: The actor who will be implementing the proposed project. They may be official actors (governmental or quasi-governmental) or unofficial actors (Non-Governmental Organizations).
Illegal Wildlife Trade: smuggling, poaching, and capture or collection of endangered species, protected wildlife, or the derivatives/products of these species.