Incentives and social relationships of hunters and traders in a Liberian bushmeat system. (September 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Incentives and social relationships of hunters and traders in a Liberian bushmeat system. (September 2019)
- Main Title:
- Incentives and social relationships of hunters and traders in a Liberian bushmeat system
- Authors:
- Jones, Sorrel
Papworth, Sarah
Keane, Aidan
St John, Freya
Smith, Emmanuel
Flomo, Abraham
Nyamunue, Zuannah
Vickery, Juliet - Abstract:
- Abstract: Hunting provides livelihoods and food security for a large number of people across the tropics but endangers wildlife populations. Effective management requires understanding both social and economic dynamics of local bushmeat systems, yet social elements such as relationships between actors are often overlooked. We provide the first detailed description of a rural hunting system in Liberia, from interviews with 205 hunters and 50 traders in the Gola Forest. We found bushmeat contributed substantially to local livelihoods and earnings from hunting and trading were high relative to local alternatives (median US$120 and $US262/month, hunters and traders respectively). Most of hunters' catch was sold to traders (85% of harvested biomass) and subsequently transported to urban markets (65% of all harvested biomass). Local consumption accounted for 27% of total harvest. Financial risks from meat confiscation were primarily born by traders, many of whom were women, and 60% perceived this as a motivation to reduce trading. By contrast, the most commonly stated motivation to reduce hunting was the time demanded by alternative activities such as farming. This discrepancy implies that livelihood support initiatives and law enforcement tools may play distinct roles across groups. Relationships between hunters and traders were complex and involved a variety of credit arrangements. Interpersonal trust played an important role, with mistrust of hunters being cited by 12% ofAbstract: Hunting provides livelihoods and food security for a large number of people across the tropics but endangers wildlife populations. Effective management requires understanding both social and economic dynamics of local bushmeat systems, yet social elements such as relationships between actors are often overlooked. We provide the first detailed description of a rural hunting system in Liberia, from interviews with 205 hunters and 50 traders in the Gola Forest. We found bushmeat contributed substantially to local livelihoods and earnings from hunting and trading were high relative to local alternatives (median US$120 and $US262/month, hunters and traders respectively). Most of hunters' catch was sold to traders (85% of harvested biomass) and subsequently transported to urban markets (65% of all harvested biomass). Local consumption accounted for 27% of total harvest. Financial risks from meat confiscation were primarily born by traders, many of whom were women, and 60% perceived this as a motivation to reduce trading. By contrast, the most commonly stated motivation to reduce hunting was the time demanded by alternative activities such as farming. This discrepancy implies that livelihood support initiatives and law enforcement tools may play distinct roles across groups. Relationships between hunters and traders were complex and involved a variety of credit arrangements. Interpersonal trust played an important role, with mistrust of hunters being cited by 12% of traders as the principle barrier for profiting from bushmeat trade. Our findings provide context for designing conservation strategies and suggest that underlying social processes deserve closer attention in bushmeat research. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Biological conservation. Volume 237(2019)
- Journal:
- Biological conservation
- Issue:
- Volume 237(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 237, Issue 2019 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 237
- Issue:
- 2019
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0237-2019-0000
- Page Start:
- 338
- Page End:
- 347
- Publication Date:
- 2019-09
- Subjects:
- Bushmeat -- Gola Forest -- Hunting -- Livelihood support -- Social-ecological systems -- West Africa
Conservation of natural resources -- Periodicals
Nature conservation -- Periodicals
Ecology -- Periodicals
Environment -- Periodicals
Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals
Electronic journals
333.9516 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00063207 ↗
http://www.elsevier.com/journals ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.006 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0006-3207
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 2075.100000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 11643.xml