REDUCING DESIRE FOR IVORY

The document argues that traditional conservation campaigns often fail because they ignore the 'affect'—the subconscious emotional needs—that drive the desire for ivory. It introduces a 'psychosocial' lens that combines psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology to identify these latent needs (such as status, security, or cultural connection) and 'redirect' them toward elephant-safe alternatives. The guide categorizes conservation efforts into four quadrants: Regulatory/Enforcement, Awareness-Raising/Culture, Behavioral Economics/Social Marketing, and Desire, urging an integrated approach that avoids 'shame and blame' tactics which can trigger cognitive defense mechanisms like denial and rationalization.

• The 'psychosocial' approach focuses on 'affect,' which are the subconscious feelings and visceral wants that drive behavior and are often processed before rational thought. Ivory is consumed not just for beauty, but to meet unspoken needs such as feeling 'valued, safe, powerful, accepted, respected, connected with history or one’s cultural heritage'.
• Traditional 'shame and blame' tactics in conservation campaigns can be counterproductive because the brain struggles to process information that threatens a person's identity or causes distress, effectively blocking the message.
• Consumers often employ unconscious defense mechanisms to cope with the conflict between their desire for ivory and the knowledge that it harms elephants. These include denial (refusing to accept the problem), disavowal (choosing to remain unaware), and rationalizing (justifying the behavior to avoid guilt).
• In China, the desire for ivory is linked to rapid societal and economic change, where ivory symbolizes 'wealth, status, and privilege', serves as an 'inflation-proof investment', and provides a connection to 'positive attributes of Chinese history and culture'.
• The 'redirect' is a critical process of shifting a consumer's attachment from ivory to an 'elephant-safe' behavior that fulfills the same underlying emotional need. This is more effective than simple material substitution because it links new actions to existing neural pathways.
• The guide organizes conservation strategies into four 'Quadrants of Engagement': Regulatory/Enforcement (laws and bans), Awareness-Raising/Culture (mass media and celebrities), Behavioral Economics/Social Marketing (nudges and pledges), and Desire (targeting emotional drivers). Maximum effectiveness requires an integrated approach using all four.

APA

Lertzman, R., & Baragona, K. (2016). REDUCING DESIRE FOR IVORY. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/171/2gga0z78ui_ReducingDesireforIvory_011917_print.pdf

Chicago

Lertzman, Renee, and Karen Baragona. REDUCING DESIRE FOR IVORY. WWF International, 2016. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/171/2gga0z78ui_ReducingDesireforIvory_011917_print.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lertzman |first1=Renee |last2=Baragona |first2=Karen |title=REDUCING DESIRE FOR IVORY |publisher=WWF International |date=2016 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/171/2gga0z78ui_ReducingDesireforIvory_011917_print.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lertzman2016reducing, author = {Lertzman, Renee and Baragona, Karen}, title = {{REDUCING DESIRE FOR IVORY}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2016}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/171/2gga0z78ui_ReducingDesireforIvory_011917_print.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }