Hunting of wildlife

The unsustainable hunting of wildlife for food and medicines is a more immediate threat to wildlife conservation than is habitat loss in many parts of the world. If we are to find cost effective approaches to ensuring the long-term conservation of wildlife we need to:

• Decide whether or not hunting is unsustainable within a particular area of interest and which species warrant the most immediate attention;
• Understand why people are involved in unsustainable wildlife hunting and consumption;
• Understand who is likely to win and lose when sustainable wildlife management practices are adopted, and
• Determine whether or not our actions are both changing the level of hunting and the population status of hunted species.

Other useful resources

Books:

J. G. Robinson and E. L. Bennett. Hunting for sustainability in tropical forests, New York:Columbia University Press, 1999. 582 pages.

D. S. Wilkie and J. F. Carpenter. Bushmeat hunting in the Congo Basin: an assessment of impacts and options for mitigation. Biodiversity Conserv. 8:927-955, 1999.

D. S. Wilkie and R. A. Godoy. Income and price elasticities of bushmeat demand in lowland Amerindian societies. Cons.Biol. 15 (3):1-9, 2001.

L. J. T. White and A. Edwards. Conservation research in the African rain forests: a technical handbook, New York: Wildlife Conservation Society, 2000. 353 pages.

Links:

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force web site