Hunting in Brazil: What are the options?

Abstract

In Brazil most forms of hunting and keeping of wild animals are illegal, although they remain widely practiced and are deeply culturally embedded in many regions. The drivers of such widespread non-compliance are poorly understood and evidence to support future policy decisions is generally lacking. In this paper, we seek to stimulate a critical debate on how to deal with hunting in Brazil by analysing the main factors driving non-compliance with current legislation. This is particularly timely given that several amendments to existing legislation are currently under consideration. Our analysis suggests that, while there are no simple solutions to non-compliance, a targeted suite of the following policy options could improve the monitoring, sustainability and conservation consequences of hunting in Brazil: (i) simplifying the process to become a registered subsistence hunter; (ii) expanding participation in licensing schemes; (iii) investing in pilot studies and assessing their environmental and socioeconomic impacts; (iv) expanding community-based management programmes; (v) trailing education and social marketing campaigns. These policy options are geographically and social-context specific and would be most effectively be implemented at regional or sub-regional scales.