Economic and geographic drivers of wildlife consumption in rural Africa

Brashares, Justin S.; Golden, Christopher D.; Weinbaum, Karen Z.; Barrett, Chris; Okello, Grace V.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1011526108

Cited by 325 publications

(301 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…These findings have clear application to the design of interventions that seek to achieve wildlife conservation by ameliorating human poverty and hunger. Just as other papers in this special feature find that protection of ecologically valuable forests does not automatically lead to improved living conditions for the rural poor, so do Brashares et al (30) reciprocally find that economic growth does not automatically translate into reduced hunting pressure on wildlife.…”

Section: Introduction To the Papers In This Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brashares et al (30) tackle a question that plagues many interventions that seek to achieve wildlife conservation outcomes by improving rural livelihoods: Will improved household incomes increase or decrease bushmeat consumption? Using multiple reinforcing survey approaches across four African nations, the authors find compelling evidence that in addition to household wealth, geographic distance to urban areas (and markets), relative pricing vs. meat from domestic animals, and the opportunity cost of time spent hunting vs. other activities all have important effects on patterns of bushmeat consumption and sale.…”

Section: Introduction To the Papers In This Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

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On biodiversity conservation and poverty traps

Barrett

Travis

Dasgupta

2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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269

167

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This paper introduces a special feature on biodiversity conservation and poverty traps. We define and explain the core concepts and then identify four distinct classes of mechanisms that define important interlinkages between biodiversity and poverty. The multiplicity of candidate mechanisms underscores a major challenge in designing policy appropriate across settings. This framework is then used to introduce the ensuing set of papers, which empirically explore these various mechanisms linking poverty traps and biodiversity conservation.development | ecosystem | natural resources | sustainability | wildlife S temming biodiversity loss and reducing poverty are global challenges of the first order, enshrined in both the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Millennium Development Goals, agreed by virtually all countries over the past decade. The world is nonetheless struggling to meet the ambitions expressed in those global accords. The World Wide Fund for Nature International finds that the earth's wildlife populations have declined by a third over the past 35 y alone but by even more, 60%, in poorer tropical regions (1). The rate and magnitude of these losses will define the earth's sixth mass extinction period unless we quickly reverse this decline (2). Meanwhile, leaving aside the remarkable case of China, the number of people living in extreme poverty increased by more than 30% from 1981 to 2004 and now surpasses 1 billion (3).The persistence of extreme poverty and continued rapid loss of biodiversity appear intimately related. Extreme poverty and biodiversity hot spots are geographically coincident, concentrated in rural areas where livelihoods depend disproportionately on natural capital embodied in forests, rangelands, soils, water, and wildlife. Colocation naturally gives rise to closely coupled human-managed ecosystems that are in a precarious balance at best. Lack of resources, institutions, and governance structures often leaves local people illequipped to institute mechanisms to ensure long-term resource maintenance. Compounding this problem, the conditions of the human and nonhuman species within ecosystems coevolve in response to subtle shifts in any of several subsystems.Despite the importance of this coevolutionary relationship, connections between poverty traps and biodiversity conservation remain remarkably underexplored, not only in formal theorizing* but especially empirically. We have surprisingly little observational or experimental detail describing interactions in closely coupled human and natural systems in the rural tropics. In the absence of rigorous evidence on the synergies or tradeoffs between biodiversity conservation and escape from poverty traps, opinion and untested hypotheses predominate and crucial linkages are too often overlooked. Conservationists typically ignore the predictable consequences of human agency; people adapt behaviors in response to changes in environmental management, often generating unintended consequences that undermine conservation objectives (6). Simi...

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Section: Introduction To the Papers In This Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction To the Papers In This Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

On biodiversity conservation and poverty traps

Barrett

Travis

Dasgupta

2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

269

167

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…de Merode et al, 2004;Crookes et al, 2007). Brashares et al (2011) showed that hunting activity in Ghana varies seasonally, increasing when hunters are not occupied with agricultural work. There is however scant information on the motives underlying these patterns and on how bushmeat hunting may be linked to other activities such as crop protection (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of bushmeat in a West African agricultural landscape

Alexander

McNamara

Rowcliffe

et al. 2014

Oryx

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There is little information on the changing role of bushmeat hunting in the agricultural areas of West Africa. We assessed the status and role of bushmeat hunting and rural consumption in three communities in Ghana, through household surveys (n 5 250), and interviews with hunters (n 5 69), eatery owners (n 5 18) and bushmeat traders (n 5 3). Hunting was embedded within dynamic livelihood strategies, with two broad categories of hunters identified: a large group who targeted pests on their own farms using traps, and a smaller group of professional hunters. The professional hunters included a group of young men who hunted with dogs, and another group of older firearm hunters who tended to be members of Hunters' Associations. All professional hunters reported a decline in bushmeat availability and expressed concerns about the viability of hunting as a livelihood. The frequency of consumption of bushmeat increased with distance from the region's main urban centre, Kumasi, but bushmeat was not found to be a major component of the diet in any of the villages. Few men self-identified as hunters, although bushmeat hunting continued to play an important role in the rural economy, primarily for crop protection. Conservation efforts need to consider the full spectrum of hunting behaviours. Specific measures should target forest-based hunters, who are more likely to damage forest ecosystems than crop pest hunters but also show more concern for the sustainability of hunting, and commitment to hunting as an institution.

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“…6 The Ebola disease outbreak in West Africa has been the largest in the history of the disease since the first case in 1976. 7 The index cases in the neighboring Mano river states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have not been conclusively determined. Circumstantial evidence points to the source of the current outbreak to physical contact with secretions from wild fruit bats and not actual consumption of meat of the suspected reservoir or infected animal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%