Description

The (il)legal bird trade across Southeast Asia is a complex and understudied form of illegal wildlife trade (IWT), involving a vast diversity of species comparable to trades in reptiles, amphibians, plants, and insects. Indonesia sits at the heart of this trade, where birds are kept for a range of purposes, from pets and food to entertainment and spiritual symbolism.

Image: A Javan owlet chick (Otus angelinae) with a sinus infection. Photo by Sicily Fiennes.

On Java, birdkeeping is deeply rooted in cultural traditions linked to royal heritage and has spread across the archipelago through transmigration programs, resulting in major bird market hubs such as Jakarta’s Pramuka market and others in Java, Sumatra, Bali, and Kalimantan. This trade is shaped by structural inequalities, with wealthier individuals collecting birds and poorer communities engaging in hunting under economic pressure. Birdkeeping is also tied to national identity and post-independence cultural revival, reinforcing visions of Indonesia’s Golden Age. These cultural, economic, and political entanglements make enforcement of conservation laws particularly challenging.

This project investigates species identification as a key barrier to effective enforcement and explores how user-centered, machine learning-based tools might support law enforcement in navigating this multifaceted issue.

Image: A row of bird shops in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Photo by Sicily Fiennes.

Research overview

This research investigates species identification as a critical but underexplored barrier in the policing of the illegal songbird trade in Indonesia. Building on earlier findings that identification often relies on individuals with exceptional taxonomic recall, akin to “super recognizers” in law enforcement, the project interrogates dominant narratives around conservation technology and enforcement. Rather than treating identification as a purely technical challenge, it reveals how identification practices expose deeper tensions within the trade, including cultural norms, legal ambiguities, and enforcement limitations.

By integrating political ecology, machine learning, and design theory, the research reframes wildlife trade as a ‘wicked problem’, those which are complex, culturally embedded, and resistant to simple solutions. Through the development and testing of image-based taxonomic aids, the project explores how user-centered design can support law enforcement while also surfacing broader social and ethical challenges. Ultimately, the work critiques the limitations of punitive conservation approaches and advocates for more equitable, context-sensitive strategies that account for the lived realities of both humans and non-human birds entangled in the trade.

Key findings

Species identification is a major barrier to enforcing conservation law in Indonesia’s songbird trade. Image-based machine learning tools (e.g., Merlin, Google Lens) show promise, even in complex environments like bird markets, but must be adapted to local contexts and user needs. However, technology alone is not a silver bullet. While it may improve identification, it can inadvertently exacerbate other challenges, such as undermining community-based enforcement or reinforcing punitive approaches. Law enforcement officers already use informal networks (e.g., WhatsApp) to crowdsource species ID. Formalizing these and other techno-legal efforts through platforms like iNaturalist could improve accuracy, transparency, and monitoring across marketplaces.

Image: Sicily Fiennes taking pictures in a bird shop.

Bird trade is a minor crime, yet conservation law enforcement (CLE) efforts risk criminalizing large portions of the population if not approached carefully. IWT is not an exception but a norm in many communities. Social justice issues are central: economic pressures, cultural practices, and racialized narratives shape participation in wildlife trade. Enforcement must avoid punitive approaches that deepen inequality. Alternative livelihoods and justice-based models such as conservation basic income, should be explored to reduce economic pressures on hunters and vendors, aligning conservation goals with social equity. Conservation must move beyond racialized narratives. Current approaches often stigmatize consumers and overlook the structural inequalities and cultural significance of birdkeeping in Indonesia.

Image: An Ochraceous Bulbul (Alophoixus ochraceus) in the hot sun. Photo by Sicily Fiennes.

Birds are not passive objects in trade; their agency and welfare vary across the supply chain. Harms such as feather plucking, overcrowding, and dismemberment are often invisible but significant. Harm reduction offers a more equitable path. Interventions should aim to reduce individual harm to birds (e.g., overcrowding, dismemberment) while supporting sustainable trade practices. A more-than-human political ecology lens reveals hidden harms and interconnectedness in the trade, urging conservation to consider animal welfare, cultural practices, and habitat relationships holistically.

Top image: A Straw Headed Bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) sings in a wildlife market. Photo by Sicily Fiennes.

Publications and outputs

Fiennes, S., Hardianto, N., Anasari, S. D., Nur Haq, A., Laraswari, S., Jackson, T., Birchall, C., Holmes, G., & Hassall, C. (2025). Designing user-centered technologies to address the illegal wildlife trade. Conservation Science and Practice, e70166. https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70166 or https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.70166

Fiennes, S. (2025, October 6). Visual stories from a bird marketplace. Current Conservation. https://www.currentconservation.org/visual-stories-from-a-bird-marketplace/ 

Fiennes, S., Hardianto, N., Answari, S., Asri, D., Jackson, T., Holmes, G., Hassall, C. (2024). Rethinking extinction “crises” – the case of the Asian songbird trade. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction. https://doi.org/10.1017/ext.2024.20.

Fiennes, S. (2024). Uncaged conservation: The realities of the illegal bird trade. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/university-of-leeds/uncaged-conservation-the-realities-of-the-illegal-bird-trade-00c2957b9b97

Fiennes, S. (2023) Bagaimana pedoman TikTok belum ampuh menangkal perdagangan burung ilegal di Indonesia, The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/bagaimana-pedoman-tiktok-belum-ampuh-menangkal-perdagangan-burung-ilegal-di-indonesia-209792

Fiennes, S., Anasari, S. D., & Hardianto, N. (2023). TikTok facilitating songbird trade in Indonesia. Oryx, 57(4), 420-421. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605323000510

Event recordings

Rethinking extinction “crises”: The case of Asian songbird trade. May 2025. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction Real World Challenges Seminar Series. Remote Presentation. https://doi.org/10.52843/cassyni.qd2234

Websites

Fiennes, S., Patil, I., Lugas, L. (2024). Uncaged Conservation: An inclusive audio-visual exploration of wildlife marketplaces. Available at: https://www.uncagedconservation.com/