Wildlife Harvest and Consumption in Amazonia's Urbanized Wilderness

Conservation Letters

Luke Parry¹  Jos Barlow¹ 

[1] Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

关键词: Brazil;    bushmeat;    cities;    fishing;    hunting;    sustainability;    urbanization;   

DOI  :  10.1111/conl.12151

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Urbanization of forested wilderness could threaten biodiversity if expanding cities drive demand for wildlife as food. We examined the scale and drivers of urban wildlife consumption in the forested prefrontier of Brazilian Amazonia, defined as municipalities (n = 73) with over 90% of their original forest cover still intact. A representative survey of two prefrontier cities indicated that virtually all urban households consume wildlife, including fish (99%), bushmeat (mammals and birds; 79%), chelonians (48%) and caimans (28%)—alarming evidence of an underreported wild-meat crisis in the heart of Amazonia. We also report rapid growth of cities and inadequate resources to deter illegal consumption in this urbanized wilderness covering 1.86 million km². We evaluate relevant policy levers and conclude that poverty-alleviation programs may accelerate a long-term transition from consumption of wildlife as an economical source of protein for the poor to luxury food for the wealthy. We argue that innovative environmental governance could limit wildlife consumption to only harvest-tolerant species. Researchers and policy-makers should engage with policies and ideas that promote poverty alleviation and supply poor city-dwellers with affordable alternatives to eating wildlife.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
Copyright and Photocopying:© 2014 The Authors Conservation Letters published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.