Lecciones aprendidas sobre el potencial y las limitantes para el desarrollo de alternativas al uso insostenible de la carne de monte en bosques tropicales y sub-tropicales a nivel mundial

In the world's tropical forests, wildlife utilization contributes substantially to the livelihoods of human populations and plays multiple roles as nutrition, source of income, medical or spiritual value. In certain parts of the world, unsustainable hunting has resulted in local extinction or reduction of vulnerable species with long-term consequences on the functioning of ecosystems and the livelihoods of people. In situations in which the use of bushmeat is unsustainable, neither strict prohibition nor environmental education, can on their own reduce hunting pressure for populations communities that depend on this resource, and it is necessary to explore possible alternatives to the unsustainable exploitation of bushmeat. In this article, based on a review of scientific literature, project documents and expert surveys, we describe the different types of alternatives and the key challenges and risks associated with each, and provide recommendations for successful development.En los bosques tropicales del mundo la utilización de fauna silvestre contribuye substancialmente a los medios de vida de las poblaciones humanas y desempeña múltiples papeles como el de nutrición, fuente de ingresos, valor medicinal o espiritual. En ciertas partes del mundo, la cacería no sostenible ha tenido como consecuencia la extinción local o la reducción de las poblaciones para ciertas especies vulnerables, con consecuencias a largo plazo sobre el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas y los modos de vida de la gente. En situaciones en las cuales el uso de carne de monte es insostenible, ni la prohibición ni la educación ambiental pueden por sí solas reducir la presión de caza para las poblaciones que dependen de ese recurso y es necesario explorar posibles alternativas al aprovechamiento no sostenible de carne de monte. En este artículo, con base en revisión de literatura científica, documentos de proyectos y encuestas a expertos, se describen los distintos tipos de alternativas y las principales dificultades y riesgos asociados a cada una de ellas y se proveen recomendaciones para su desarrollo exitoso

Lecciones aprendidas sobre el potencial y las limitantes para el desarrollo de alternativas al uso insostenible de la carne de monte en bosques tropicales y sub-tropicales a nivel mundial

In the world's tropical forests, wildlife utilization contributes substantially to the livelihoods of human populations and plays multiple roles as nutrition, source of income, medical or spiritual value. In certain parts of the world, unsustainable hunting has resulted in local extinction or reduction of vulnerable species with long-term consequences on the functioning of ecosystems and the livelihoods of people. In situations in which the use of bushmeat is unsustainable, neither strict prohibition nor environmental education, can on their own reduce hunting pressure for populations communities that depend on this resource, and it is necessary to explore possible alternatives to the unsustainable exploitation of bushmeat. In this article, based on a review of scientific literature, project documents and expert surveys, we describe the different types of alternatives and the key challenges and risks associated with each, and provide recommendations for successful development.En los bosques tropicales del mundo la utilización de fauna silvestre contribuye substancialmente a los medios de vida de las poblaciones humanas y desempeña múltiples papeles como el de nutrición, fuente de ingresos, valor medicinal o espiritual. En ciertas partes del mundo, la cacería no sostenible ha tenido como consecuencia la extinción local o la reducción de las poblaciones para ciertas especies vulnerables, con consecuencias a largo plazo sobre el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas y los modos de vida de la gente. En situaciones en las cuales el uso de carne de monte es insostenible, ni la prohibición ni la educación ambiental pueden por sí solas reducir la presión de caza para las poblaciones que dependen de ese recurso y es necesario explorar posibles alternativas al aprovechamiento no sostenible de carne de monte. En este artículo, con base en revisión de literatura científica, documentos de proyectos y encuestas a expertos, se describen los distintos tipos de alternativas y las principales dificultades y riesgos asociados a cada una de ellas y se proveen recomendaciones para su desarrollo exitoso

Lecciones aprendidas sobre el potencial y las limitantes para el desarrollo de alternativas al uso insostenible de la carne de monte en bosques tropicales y sub-tropicales a nivel mundial

In the world's tropical forests, wildlife utilization contributes substantially to the livelihoods of human populations and plays multiple roles as nutrition, source of income, medical or spiritual value. In certain parts of the world, unsustainable hunting has resulted in local extinction or reduction of vulnerable species with long-term consequences on the functioning of ecosystems and the livelihoods of people. In situations in which the use of bushmeat is unsustainable, neither strict prohibition nor environmental education, can on their own reduce hunting pressure for populations communities that depend on this resource, and it is necessary to explore possible alternatives to the unsustainable exploitation of bushmeat. In this article, based on a review of scientific literature, project documents and expert surveys, we describe the different types of alternatives and the key challenges and risks associated with each, and provide recommendations for successful development

Hunting in times of change: Uncovering indigenous strategies in the Colombian amazon using a role-playing game

Despite growing industrialization, the shift to a cash economy and natural resource overexploitation, indigenous people of the Amazon region hunt and trade wildlife in order to meet their livelihood requirements. Individual strategies, shaped by the hunters' values and expectations, are changing in response to the region's economic development, but they still face the contrasting challenges of poverty and overhunting. For conservation initiatives to be implemented effectively, it is crucial to take into account people's strategies with their underlying drivers and their adaptive capabilities within a transforming socio-economic environment. To uncover hunting strategies in the Colombian Amazon and their evolution under the current transition, we co-designed a role-playing game together with the local stakeholders. The game revolves around the tension between ecological sustainability and food security—hunters' current main concern. It simulates the mosaic of activities that indigenous people perform in the wet and dry season, while also allowing for specific hunting strategies. Socio-economic conditions change while the game unfolds, opening up to emerging alternative potential scenarios suggested by the stakeholders themselves. Do hunters give up hunting when given the opportunity of an alternative income and protein source? Do institutional changes affect their livelihoods? We played the game between October and December 2016 with 39 players—all of them hunters—from 9 different communities within the Ticoya reserve. Our results show that providing alternatives would decrease overall hunting effort, but impacts are not spatially homogenous. Legalizing trade could lead to overhunting except when market rules and competition come into place. When it comes to coupled human-nature systems, the best way forward to produce socially just and resilient conservation strategies might be to trigger an adaptive process of experiential learning and scenario exploration. The use of games as “boundary objects” can guide stakeholders through the process, eliciting the plurality of their strategies, their drivers and how outside change affects them

Effect of Small-Scale Heterogeneity of Prey and Hunter Distributions on the Sustainability of Bushmeat Hunting

International audienceBushmeat is the main source of protein and the most important source of income for rural people in the Congo Basin, but intensive hunting of bushmeat species is also a major concern for conservationists. Although spatial heterogeneity in hunting effort and in prey populations at the landscape level plays a key role in the sustainability of hunted populations, the role of small-scale heterogeneity within a village hunting territory in the sustainability of hunting has remained understudied. We built a spatially explicit multiagent model to capture the dynamics of a system in which hunters and preys interact within a village hunting territory. We examined the case of hunting of bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis) in the village of Ntsi'et'e, northeastern Gabon. The impact of hunting on prey populations depended on the spatial heterogeneity of hunting and prey distribution at small scales within a hunting area. Within a village territory, the existence of areas hunted throughout the year, areas hunted only during certain seasons, and unhunted areas contributed to the sustainability of the system. Prey abundance and offtake per hunter were particularly sensitive to the frequency and length of hunting sessions and to the number of hunters sharing an area. Some biological parameters of the prey species, such as dispersal rate and territory size, determined their spatial distribution in a hunting area, which in turn influenced the sustainability of hunting. Detailed knowledge of species ecology and behavior, and of hunting practices are crucial to understanding the distribution of potential sinks and sources in space and time. Given the recognized failure of simple biological models to assess maximum sustainable yields, multiagent models provide an innovative path toward new approaches for the assessment of hunting sustainability, provided further research is conducted to increase knowledge of prey species' and hunter behavior