Abstract
Bushmeat is an important resource in the livelihoods of many rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and may be a crucial safety-net for the most vulnerable households, especially during times of economic hardship. However, little is known about the impacts of wildlife depletion on these functions. This study quantifies the role of bushmeat in diversified rural household economies in a wildlife depleted forest-farm landscape in Ghana, assessing its importance overall, as well as differentiated by the relative vulnerability of households. Using repeat socioeconomic questionnaires (N=787) among 63 households over a one-year period, the following hypotheses were tested: (a) vulnerable households harvest more bushmeat; (b) bushmeat contributes a greater proportion of household production in vulnerable households; (c) bushmeat is more important for cash income than consumption in vulnerable households; and (d) bushmeat sales are more important for vulnerable households. The bushmeat harvest value averaged less than US$1.0 per day for 89% of households and comprised less than 7% of household production value. Household wealth and gender of the household head had little effect on the importance of bushmeat. However, bushmeat harvest and sales were highest during the agricultural lean season. Overall, most harvested bushmeat (64%) was consumed, enabling households to spend 30% less on meat/fish purchases. These findings suggest that, despite heavily depleted wildlife and diversified livelihoods, bushmeat continues to have an important role in rural livelihoods by acting as a safety net for income smoothing and reducing household expenditure during times of economic hardship.
Highlights
There is growing awareness of the importance of ecosystem services such as the harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) for rural communities in developing countries [1,2,3]
This study aims to improve our understanding of the potential for bushmeat harvested from depleted wildlife populations to support vulnerable households, especially at times of economic hardship
We tested four hypotheses: (1) vulnerable households harvest more bushmeat; (2) bushmeat contributes a greater proportion to household production of vulnerable households; (3) bushmeat is more important for cash income than consumption in vulnerable households; and (4) bushmeat sales are more important for vulnerable households
Summary
There is growing awareness of the importance of ecosystem services such as the harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) for rural communities in developing countries [1,2,3]. Where incomegenerating livelihood options are scarce, the sale of NTFPs is often the only means to earn a cash income [5] This suggests a link between NTFP harvest and human wellbeing, which has recently gained increasing attention in conservation, development and policy circles [6] and among funding bodies [7]. Hunters supplying bushmeat to traders may exert strong bargaining power within the rural-urban commodity chain [10] and can gain incomes comparable to or higher than average local wages [11,12,13,14] This suggests a potential role for bushmeat in contributing to human wellbeing and poverty alleviation
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