Empty forest or empty rivers? A century of commercial hunting in Amazonia

Antunes, André Pinassi; Fewster, Rachel M.; Venticinque, Eduardo Martins; Peres, Carlos A.; Terborgh, John; Röhe, Fábio; Shepard, Glenn H.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600936

Cited by 157 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…Freshwater turtles are one of the most threatened vertebrate taxa (21), following long-term exploitation -from pre-Columbian indigenous people to the contemporary Amazonian dwellers of mixed indigenous and European descent (22,23). After the Brazilian Faunal Protection Law was brought into effect in 1967, followed by ratification of CITES in 1975 and the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, many terrestrial species that succumbed to severe population collapses during the heyday of th Century commercial hunting activity have since experienced clear numerical recovery (24). However, this has not typically been mirrored in overexploited aquatic species, as the accessibility of fluvial habitats makes them much more vulnerable to human pressure, which is invariably concentrated along Amazonian rivers (25).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintended multispecies co-benefits of an Amazonian community-based conservation programme

et al. 2018

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Urgent challenges posed by widespread degradation in tropical ecosystems with poor governance require new development pathways to reconcile biodiversity conservation and human welfare. Community-based conservation management (CBCM) has shown potential for integrating socioeconomic needs with conservation goals in tropical environments but assessing the effectiveness of this approach is often held back by the lack of comprehensive ecological assessments. We conduct a robust ecological evaluation of the largest CBCM initiative in the Brazilian Amazon over 40 years. We show that this program has induced large-scale population recovery of the target Giant South American Turtle (Podocnemis expansa) and other freshwater turtles along a 1,500-km of a major tributary of the Amazon River. Poaching activity on protected beaches was around 2% compared to 99% on unprotected beaches. We also find positive demographic co-benefits across a wide range of non-target vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. As a result, beaches protected by local communities represent islands of high biodiversity, while unprotected beaches remain "empty and silent", showing the effectiveness of empowering local conservation action, particularly in countries experiencing shortages in financial and human resources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintended multispecies co-benefits of an Amazonian community-based conservation programme

et al. 2018

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“…In Brazil, human-wildlife conflicts have increased since 2005 (Marchini & Crawshaw, 2015). Since the beginning of the twentieth century, controlled hunting, subsistence hunting, and commercial hunting have all contributed to the steep decline in vulnerable animal populations, and most of these species have not been able to recover (Antunes et al, 2016). The recent expansion in almost fifteen years of the agricultural frontier in the Amazon has made this already concerning scenario even more critical (Marchini & Crawshaw, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human-wildlife conflict in the Southwestern Amazon: poaching and its motivations

Lima¹,

Napiwoski²,

Oliveira³

2020

Nat. Conserv. Res.

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The conflict between humans and wildlife in Brazil has both diversified and increased rapidly since 2005. These increases have been driven by the expansion of human economic activity and its associated infrastructure. The present article aims to describe and quantify the poaching of Brazilian wildlife and its link with livestockkeeping in the rural settlement project Joana D'Arc. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of ranchers settled at the Joana D'Arc II and III, in Porto Velho municipality. The study revealed 20 instances of poaching and found that six species were poached. In 37.5% (n = 3) of the cases, poaching was performed with the help of dogs. In 25% (n � 2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they en-� 2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they en-� 2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they en-2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they en-2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they engaged in poaching. In 25% (n = 2) of the cases, people from outside the Joana D'Arc rural settlement were paid for poaching. In the remaining 12.5% (n = 1) of the cases the study found no details about the poaching event. The study found that the poachers were motivated to act preventing the predation of their livestock (n = 6, 30%), to reduce attacks on livestock (n = 5, 25%), owing to a personal aversion to wildlife (n = 4, 20%), the motivation of the poacher was not informed by the interviewed (n = 3, 15%), and to prevent attacks upon domestic animals and livestock in general (n = 2, 10%). However, this study showed that poaching was not entirely motivated by wildlife attacks. For instance, because it is difficult to confirm which predator is responsible for a given attack or is likely to attack in the future, people in these settlements are highly sensitive to the presence of wildlife-a condition that greatly increases the potential for the conflict between humans and wildlife. The study also found that wildlife hunting is common because predation can have a substantial economic impact on rural communities driven by agriculture. In short, the study found that the poaching of wild animals is not, in this context, directed to a single species of animal, and is a demonstrably multifaceted problem.

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“…Solo entre 1965 y 1976 se exportaron 5.5 millones de pieles y cueros, aunque se calcula que se mató más del doble de animales; y entre 1965 y 1973 se exportaron desde Iquitos 1 958 000 animales vivos (Bodmer, 1993;Bodmer et al, 1988). En la Amazonía brasileña recientemente los investigadores han estimado que entre 1904 y 1969 se cazó para el mercado de pieles unos 23.3 millones (entre 21.6 y 26.8 millones) de animales silvestres, mamíferos y reptiles, pertenecientes a 20 especies diferentes (Antunes et al, 2016).…”

Section: Nuevos Escenarios Y Nuevos Retosunclassified

Sobre El Futuro De Las Comunidades Amazónicas: En Busca Del Paraíso Perdido

Alonso¹

2019

Folia Amaz

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Los pueblos indígenas amazónicos por miles de años dispusieron de una fuente casi inagotable de proteínas, grasas y micronutrientes en los recursos silvestres, especialmente la fauna terrestre y acuática. En la actualidad, luego de siglo y medio de explotación insostenible para abastecer la demanda de los mercados, muchos recursos han sido extirpados de las zonas más accesibles o son tan escasos que ya no representan para muchas comunidades una fuente de alimentación confiable y relevante, y como consecuencia los indígenas hoy sufren altas tasas de desnutrición crónica infantil y anemia. Un número creciente de jóvenes emigra de las comunidades en busca de mejores oportunidades económicas. Los intentos de promover modelos de desarrollo agropecuario ajenos a la cultura amazónica han fracasado debido a su escasa pertinencia cultural y a los factores limitantes, incluyendo la pobreza o problemas de drenaje de la mayoría de los suelos, las altas temperaturas, pluviosidad y humedad, y la proliferación de plagas en cultivos y crianzas. Adicionalmente, compromisos internacionales limitan la ampliación de la frontera agrícola a costa de los bosques amazónicos. Algunas comunidades organizadas han conseguido revertir estos procesos de degradación de su capital natural y han recuperado recursos silvestres vitales para su subsistencia, gracias a la implementación de medidas de control y manejo adaptativo acordes a su cultura y formas tradicionales de organización y producción; adicionalmente, han logrado obtener ingresos importantes gracias al aprovechamiento y transformación de recursos de la biodiversidad, que hoy demandan los mercados de forma creciente. Los bionegocios con base en insumos del bosque en pie se avizoran como una excelente oportunidad para un desarrollo sostenible, inclusivo y pertinente culturalmente para las comunidades amazónicas, y una alternativa para que jóvenes emprendedores encuentren en las comunidades un futuro más acorde con la visión de “vida plena” que propugna el movimiento indígena.

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Empty forest or empty rivers? A century of commercial hunting in Amazonia

Abstract: Trend analysis of the massive international hide trade in Amazonia reveals differential resilience to hunting for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife.

Cited by 157 publications

References 95 publications

Unintended multispecies co-benefits of an Amazonian community-based conservation programme

Unintended multispecies co-benefits of an Amazonian community-based conservation programme

Human-wildlife conflict in the Southwestern Amazon: poaching and its motivations

Sobre El Futuro De Las Comunidades Amazónicas: En Busca Del Paraíso Perdido

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