Economic functions

There are three primary financial and economic functions of hunting:

• a contribution to local livelihoods directly through the consumption or sale of meat and other animal products;
• income from hunting as a recreational industry in places where bushmeat is a by-product of sport hunting; and
• indirect contribution related to reduced losses in crop production through the control of pests.

In some regions, the main use of hunted species is for food, with hunting strongly contributing to local livelihoods, particularly in developing countries. In many cases hunting can play a role in poverty alleviation, have a role as a social safety net, or complement farming activities. Hunting for livelihoods can be legal or illegal but is mostly seen as a legitimate activity by the societies where it is practiced. However, in some instances, such as in parts of southern and east Africa, bushmeat hunting may result in net negative impacts on economic and food security by foreclosing opportunities for more lucrative legal wildlife use, through ecotourism or trophy hunting. Additionally, when allowed to proceed without regulation, bushmeat hunting often causes wildlife populations to dip to levels where the obtainable harvests are negligible. Consequently, the livelihood benefits from bushmeat hunting are often not sustainable.

Socio-cultural functions

Social functions of hunting relate predominantly to the development and maintenance of social capital and respect, prestige and status, i.e., symbolic capital. In some cultures, women exhibit a preference for hunters, further emphasizing the social capital associated with the practice. Hunting is sometimes a culturally important activity and has important bonding functions by providing opportunities for camaraderie through what is sometimes both a physically demanding and dangerous pursuit. Hunting for ceremonies, festivities or zootherapy (the treatment of certain diseases with wild animal products) is another category of hunting with special characteristics. For example, the Canelos Kichwa indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon hunt for ceremonial purposes as part of the hista festival.

In South America, bushmeat replaces domestic livestock such as goats and cattle in times of hardship. In some cases, hunting tends to be more common among community members who practice seasonal migrant labour and hence have less time to plant family gardens or engage in livestock husbandry. Total rural consumption of bushmeat is believed to equal to about 150,000 tons/year in the Amazon, which is equivalent to a consumption of about 63-88 kg/capita/year. Indigenous people, who represent 5% of the Amazonian population and total approximately a million people, maintain a traditional lifestyle and rely on hunting and consumption of bushmeat as an important part of their livelihood strategy.

In Southeast Asia, bushmeat consumption remains high in remote forest areas where its cost is less than half the price of domesticated animal meat. However, as forests shrink and populations increase, people are shifting to domestic sources of meat. In the vast tropical rainforests of New Guinea, the hunting of wildlife has traditionally been one of the most important livelihood activities of local people because it provides most of a family’s animal protein and is culturally important for adornments in ceremonies or as ornaments (e.g., feathers and fur) and tools (e.g., bones and teeth) in daily life. However, hunting has shifted from a purely subsistence activity towards a more commercial form, at least partly, due to the emergence of markets created by Asian traders.

Bushmeat sold in the local market at Ebolowa, Cameroon, Africa. Photo by Colince Menel for Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).In the Congo Basin, bushmeat trade occurs in open markets together with other agricultural products. It is a common meal for most households though consumption differs according to economic, social and cultural background. Consumption in Libreville (Gabon) is estimated at 7.2 kg/capita/year, in Bangui (Central African Republic) at 14.6kg/capita/year, and in Mbanjock (Cameroon) at 2 kg/capita/year.

In eastern Africa, the commercial portion of the bushmeat trade was thought to be negligible, but the bushmeat industry is growing in countries like Kenya and Mozambique, or where refugee populations have settled en masse. Bushmeat demand from urban areas is believed to result in unsustainable hunting and has contributed to severe declines in wildlife populations. As wildlife populations outside of parks wane, bushmeat hunters are focusing increasingly on protected areas. A high and increasing proportion of Africa’s protected areas are severely depleted of wildlife due to bushmeat hunting and poaching for trophies such as ivory. In fact, in African markets, the bigger the human population density around the urban area, the less the percentage of ungulates and primates sold in markets and the higher the proportion of rodents, probably indicating over-harvesting of larger-sized species.

In the Amazon Basin, data on bushmeat consumption by urban dwellers is particularly scarce and the trade channels are not well documented. Commercialization occurs in largely hidden markets and information on bushmeat trade is difficult to obtain, mainly because buying and selling wildlife is an illegal activity in all Amazonian countries. The best known and largest bushmeat market in the Amazon is in Iquitos, Peru. This latter market arose due to the lack of cattle ranching in this part of the lowland Amazon. A study conducted in Pompeya, Ecuador reported 13 tons of bushmeat (comprised of 56 species) sold per year in the local market. Another recently studied market in the Amazon is that of Abaetetuba (Pará-Brazil) where the authors showed that the biomass of bushmeat traded during the study period was equivalent to about 6 tons of bushmeat (in 17 days monitored throughout the year), most of which, consisted of capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and caiman meat (Melanosuchus niger and Caiman crocodilus). In the tri-border region among Brazil, Peru and Colombia, a recent study reported a total of 473 tons of bushmeat traded per year in market places, which taken for the total urban population size of the area, equals to 3.2 kg/capita/year.

In Southeast Asia, increasing affluence in major consumer markets, particularly in China, coupled with improvements in transport infrastructure is leading to spiralling demand for many bushmeat species. Pangolins and turtles used for meat and in traditional Chinese medicine are the most frequently encountered bushmeat seized from illegal traders in the region with major markets in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia.

Across various continents communities depend on wildlife and families hunt both for consumption and to meet short-term cash needs. However, the rising urban and international demand of various products from wild animals is leading to uncontrolled exploitation, threatening not only the sustainability of wildlife exploitation but also the livelihoods of wildlife depended (often marginalised) communities.