Hunting and wildmeat trade: Case study in three amazonian indigenous communities in Ucayali, Peru

Abstract

Little is known about how bushmeat markets operate in the Peruvian Amazon and the influence they have on levels of extraction for food and commercial purposes. The research analyzes how the price of wildmeat is related to the intensity of hunting in native communities near the city of Pucallpa. The study confirms that the extraction, trade and use of bushmeat in these native communities are related to the trade of the resource in the city. The amount of meat shared, meat sold, and the average price influence the total amount of meat hunted. If prices vary, the quantities of meat hunted for sale also vary. It is recommended to promote local self-regulation, through which the communities organize themselves to guarantee the permanence of healthy populations of wildlife and benefit without harming the ecosystem. It is suggested to promote the legal sale of bushmeat in formal markets of Pucallpa for managed species so that it can be subject to greater control, allowing prices to achieve a sustainable level of equilibrium in the extraction and sale of bushmeat.