Wildlife Depletion in a West African Farm-Forest Mosaic and the Implications for Hunting Across the Landscape

Schulte‐Herbrüggen, Björn; Rowcliffe, J. Marcus; Homewood, Katherine; Kurpiers, Laura A.; Whitham, Charlotte; Cowlishaw, Guy

doi:10.1007/s10745-013-9609-5

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Hunting regulations that protect vulnerable species and set quotas on offtake are already in place through the Wildlife Conservation Regulations [ 11 ]. However, they are weakly enforced and, judging by historic declines in wildlife in the region, have a poor track record of success [ 44 – 49 ]. An alternative is to promote the benefits of the farm-bush matrix (from which many valuable species such as the grasscutter are harvested) as a source of livelihood resilience, for example by supplying evidence to governments of the additional economic productivity that can be achieved from wildlife harvests from low intensity agricultural systems [ 23 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics

et al. 2016

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The trade in wildlife products can represent an important source of income for poor people, but also threaten wildlife locally, regionally and internationally. Bushmeat provides livelihoods for hunters, traders and sellers, protein to rural and urban consumers, and has depleted the populations of many tropical forest species. Management interventions can be targeted towards the consumers or suppliers of wildlife products. There has been a general assumption in the bushmeat literature that the urban trade is driven by consumer demand with hunters simply fulfilling this demand. Using the urban bushmeat trade in the city of Kumasi, Ghana, as a case study, we use a range of datasets to explore the processes driving the urban bushmeat trade. We characterise the nature of supply and demand by explicitly considering three market attributes: resource condition, hunter behaviour, and consumer behaviour. Our results suggest that bushmeat resources around Kumasi are becoming increasingly depleted and are unable to meet demand, that hunters move in and out of the trade independently of price signals generated by the market, and that, for the Kumasi bushmeat system, consumption levels are driven not by consumer choice but by shortfalls in supply and consequent price responses. Together, these results indicate that supply-side processes dominate the urban bushmeat trade in Kumasi. This suggests that future management interventions should focus on changing hunter behaviour, although complementary interventions targeting consumer demand are also likely to be necessary in the long term. Our approach represents a structured and repeatable method to assessing market dynamics in information-poor systems. The findings serve as a caution against assuming that wildlife markets are demand driven, and highlight the value of characterising market dynamics to inform appropriate management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics

et al. 2016

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“…Wildlife depletion generally coincides with the transition of rural forest communities from a traditional subsistence economy to a cash economy. In the case of the study community, this process historically resulted in the development of a monoculture cash-crop farming system that is poor habitat for wildlife [ 24 ]. Yet many fast-reproducing wildlife species able to sustain high hunting pressure can occur in farmland, provided that adequate sources of food and shelter are available [ 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The region has experienced a strong decline in wildlife populations due to a combination of habitat destruction and high hunting pressure [ 25 ]. The study community is located inland more than 100km away from the coast and situated within a mosaic of intensively managed cocoa farms and timber production forest (the Sui Forest Reserve) both showing high levels of wildlife depletion [ 24 ]. As a result, most animal protein consumed was purchased, resulting in household expenditures of US$0.92/day [ 21 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The present study was conducted in rural Ghana, where both wildlife depletion [ 24 , 25 ] and malnutrition [ 26 ] are widespread. The first signs of wildlife depletion in Ghana were evident in the 1960s [ 27 ] and have since resulted in the widespread depletion of target species [ 24 , 25 ]. Malnutrition has long been and remains endemic in Ghana.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rural protein insufficiency in a wildlife-depleted West African farm-forest landscape

et al. 2017

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IntroductionWildlife is an important source of protein for many people in developing countries. Yet wildlife depletion due to overexploitation is common throughout the humid tropics and its effect on protein security, especially for vulnerable households, is poorly understood. This is problematic for both sustainable rural development and conservation management.MethodsThis study investigates a key dimension of protein security in a cash-crop farming community living in a wildlife-depleted farm-forest landscape in SW Ghana, a region where protein–energy malnutrition persists. Specifically, we monitored protein sufficiency, defined as whether consumption met daily requirements, as benchmarked by recommended daily allowance (RDA). We focus on whether more vulnerable households were less likely to be able to meet their protein needs, where vulnerability was defined by wealth, agricultural season and gender of the household head. Our central hypothesis was: (a) vulnerable households are less likely to consume sufficient protein. In the context that most plant proteins were home-produced, so likely relatively accessible to all households, while most animal proteins were purchased, so likely less accessible to vulnerable households, we tested two further hypotheses: (b) vulnerable households depend more on plant protein to cover their protein needs; and (c) vulnerable households are less likely to earn sufficient cash income to meet their protein needs through purchased animal sources.ResultsBetween 14% and 60% of households (depending on plant protein content assumptions) consumed less than the RDA for protein, but neither protein consumption nor protein sufficiency co-varied with household vulnerability. Fish, livestock and food crops comprised 85% of total protein intake and strongly affected protein sufficiency. However, bushmeat remained an important protein source (15% of total consumption), especially during the post-harvest season when it averaged 26% of total protein consumption. Across the year, 89% of households experienced at least one occasion when they had insufficient income to cover their protein needs through animal protein purchases. The extent of this income shortage was highest during the lean season and among poorer households.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that despite wildlife depletion, bushmeat continues to make a substantial contribution to protein consumption, especially during the agricultural lean season. Income shortages among farmers limit their ability to purchase bushmeat or its substitutes, suggesting that wildlife depletion may cause malnutrition.

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“…Changes in the availability of forested areas and/or natural resources can result in a shift in primate ranging patterns and the incorporation of human grown foods in their diets [Hockings et al, ; Mckinney, ; McLennan & Hockings, ; Naughton‐Treves et al, ]. However, hunting of primates is common in recently abandoned fields and settlements [Naughton‐Treves et al, ; Smith, ; Schulte‐Herbrüggen et al, ] and negative interactions between people and primates due to crop foraging is well documented [e.g., Brncic et al, ; Hill, ; Hockings & Sousa, ; McLennan, ; Tweheyo et al, ]. Determining the ecological patterns of specific primate resources across habitat types can help reduce assumptions on the suitability of anthropogenic landscapes for resident primate populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chimpanzees in an anthropogenic landscape: Examining food resources across habitat types at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa

Bryson-Morrison

Matsuzawa

Humle

2016

American J Primatol

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Many primate populations occur outside protected areas in fragmented anthropogenic landscapes. Empirical data on the ecological characteristics that define an anthropogenic landscape are urgently required if conservation initiatives in such environments are to succeed. The main objective of our study was to determine the composition and availability of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) food resources across fine spatial scales in the anthropogenic landscape of Bossou, Guinea, West Africa. We examined food resources in all habitat types available in the chimpanzees' core area. We surveyed resource composition, structure and heterogeneity (20 m × 20 m quadrats, N = 54) and assessed temporal availability of food from phenology trails (total distance 5951 m; 1073 individual trees) over 1 year (2012-2013). Over half of Bossou consists of regenerating forest and is highly diverse in terms of chimpanzee food species; large fruit bearing trees are rare and confined to primary and riverine forest. Moraceae (mulberries and figs) was the dominant family, trees of which produce drupaceous fruits favored by chimpanzees. The oil palm occurs at high densities throughout and is the only species found in all habitat types except primary forest. Our data suggest that the high densities of oil palm and fig trees, along with abundant terrestrial herbaceous vegetation and cultivars, are able to provide the chimpanzees with widely available resources, compensating for the scarcity of large fruit trees. A significant difference was found between habitat types in stem density/ha and basal area m /ha of chimpanzee food species. Secondary, young secondary, and primary forest emerged as the most important habitat types for availability of food tree species. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining ecological characteristics of an anthropogenic landscape as each available habitat type is unlikely to be equally important in terms of spatial and temporal availability of resources. Am. J. Primatol. 78:1237-1249, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Wildlife Depletion in a West African Farm-Forest Mosaic and the Implications for Hunting Across the Landscape

Cited by 12 publications

References 44 publications

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics

Characterising Wildlife Trade Market Supply-Demand Dynamics

Rural protein insufficiency in a wildlife-depleted West African farm-forest landscape

Chimpanzees in an anthropogenic landscape: Examining food resources across habitat types at Bossou, Guinea, West Africa

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