Mapping the Research Landscape on Poaching: A Decadal Systematic Review

Vukan M Lavadinović,Murali Krishna Chatakonda,Camila A Islas,Monicah Mbiba,Nevena Marković

doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.630990

Abstract

Poaching is a widespread activity that affects wildlife management goals and undermines conservation efforts worldwide. Despite its complexity, poaching is still commonly addressed by researchers as a one-dimensional phenomenon. To deepen the scientific understanding of poaching, we conducted a systematic literature review in the Web of Science and Scopus databases for the last 10 years, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology. We found that most studies were carried out in Africa, although 43% of all articles on poaching were published by researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom. The most studied species are elephants (22%), rhinos (19%), wolves (9%), and bears (6%). Although this study identified a wide range of motives and drivers behind poaching activities, more than half of the analyzed articles do not attempt to provide a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. Its understanding of poaching usually does not go beyond the environmental impact of illegal hunting. Our study’s potential limitations may relate to the focus on exclusively English-language articles and, among them, only those discussing mammal, bird, and reptile species. Our findings indicate that global scientific knowledge on poaching in the last 10 years is biased. There is an imbalance between the developed countries that mostly produce knowledge on poaching (usually from Northern America and Europe) and the developing countries commonly an object of interest. This bias is potentially challenging, as the global scientific knowledge on poaching comes from limited experience based on charismatic species and selective case studies. To overcome this gap and develop a deeper understanding of poaching, the scientific community needs to overcome this bias and address illegal hunting wherever it affects the environment and undermines conservation efforts.

Highlights

Poaching is a global social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental challenge that affects wildlife populations, impedes the achievement of wildlife management goals, and undermines conservation efforts (Chiarello, 1999; Yiming et al, 2003; Lemieux and Clarke, 2009; Kaczensky et al, 2011; Archie and Chiyo, 2012)
30% of the articles focused on problems of poaching and wildlife management, whereas 20% analyzed poaching as part of wildlife trafficking
It can be said that approximately 50% of articles attempted to provide a deeper understanding of poaching, whereas the other half was focused on its negative impact on wildlife

Summary

Introduction

Poaching is a global social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental challenge that affects wildlife populations, impedes the achievement of wildlife management goals, and undermines conservation efforts (Chiarello, 1999; Yiming et al, 2003; Lemieux and Clarke, 2009; Kaczensky et al, 2011; Archie and Chiyo, 2012). Did hunting play a major role in the European imperial experience in Africa and Asia (MacKenzie, 1988), and, generally, the history of wildlife and nature conservation has been strongly associated with European imperialism (MacKenzie, 1988; Grove, 1995). The fusion of colonial history and conservation history is linked with the exclusion of local communities in the protection and certain restrictions on hunting or even the racial inequalities between Europeans and indigenous hunters (MacKenzie, 1988)

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