Abstract
The Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) model in Brazil provides legal context for monitoring wildlife with the involvement of local populations in gathering data and developing strategies for sustainable use. We present results of one year of self monitoring by hunters in five communities within the RDS-PP, discuss how the observed patterns reflect local hunting regulations, and suggest how this information could be incorporated into a formal management system. In addition to the offtake data, we interviewed hunters, inquiring about informal community hunting norms and agreements, and analysed the content of 19 rules in the reserve's management plan. 509 hunting events were recorded by 37 of the 104 families present (35%). Self monitoring permitted the evaluation of temporal and spatial fluctuations of hunting activities, notably regarding ease of canoe transport during the high-water season. Though communities have been apprehensive about developing regulations for subsistence hunting, one of the communities had developed a set of formal rules. Hunting for commercial sale to outsiders and restrictions on external hunters are concerns shared by the local population and the reserve management agencies. Such data and understanding are crucial to the management of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon, where governance is often limited.
Highlights
Hunting has been formally prohibited in Brazil since 1967 (Brazilian Federal Law No 5197, 1967), it remains an essential element in the livelihoods of diverse indigenous and
This study presents the results of one year of self monitoring by hunters in Piagaçu-Purus, discusses how the observed patterns reflect informal local hunting regulations, and suggests how this information could be incorporated into a formal management system
74 of the 104 families (71%) from the five communities agreed to participate in self monitoring
Summary
Hunting has been formally prohibited in Brazil since 1967 (Brazilian Federal Law No 5197, 1967), it remains an essential element in the livelihoods of diverse indigenous and Monitoring and management of hunting in Piagaçu-Purus, Brazil / 255 non-indigenous populations, especially in the Amazon (Peres 2000; Robinson and Bennet 2000). This gross contradiction between legislation and practice, literally relegating hunting to the realm of criminality, hindered any attempt at wildlife management in Brazil for decades. Local knowledge and management practices are contemplated in the drafting of each RDS’s Protected Area Management Plan, which ‘establishes zoning and standards governing the land use and management of natural resources’ (Brazilian Federal Law No 9985 of 2000, Article 2)
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