Wildlife Harvest and Consumption in Amazonia's Urbanized Wilderness

Jos Barlow,Heloisa Pereira,Luke Parry

doi:10.1111/conl.12151

Abstract

AbstractUrbanization of forested wilderness could threaten biodiversity if expanding cities drive demand for wildlife as food. We examined the scale and drivers of urban wildlife consumption in the forested prefrontier of Brazilian Amazonia, defined as municipalities (n = 73) with over 90% of their original forest cover still intact. A representative survey of two prefrontier cities indicated that virtually all urban households consume wildlife, including fish (99%), bushmeat (mammals and birds; 79%), chelonians (48%) and caimans (28%)—alarming evidence of an underreported wild‐meat crisis in the heart of Amazonia. We also report rapid growth of cities and inadequate resources to deter illegal consumption in this urbanized wilderness covering 1.86 million km2. We evaluate relevant policy levers and conclude that poverty‐alleviation programs may accelerate a long‐term transition from consumption of wildlife as an economical source of protein for the poor to luxury food for the wealthy. We argue that innovative environmental governance could limit wildlife consumption to only harvest‐tolerant species. Researchers and policy‐makers should engage with policies and ideas that promote poverty alleviation and supply poor city‐dwellers with affordable alternatives to eating wildlife.

Highlights

Irreplaceable tropical forest wilderness is essential for conserving biodiversity (Brooks et al 2006) and is cheaper to conserve than other priority biomes because of sparse rural settlement (Joppa et al 2008)
We examine the potential biodiversity impacts of urban growth in the forested wilderness by assessing urban wildlife consumption in Amazonia’s forested prefrontier, which we define as the 73 municipalities with over 90% of their original forest cover still intact (Figure 1), holding 1.86 million square km2 of forest
Urban households reported consuming a wide range of mammals (ࣘ15 species identified in total), birds (ࣘ12), fishes (ࣘ62), and reptiles (ࣘ7; Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Irreplaceable tropical forest wilderness is essential for conserving biodiversity (Brooks et al 2006) and is cheaper to conserve than other priority biomes because of sparse rural settlement (Joppa et al 2008). There has been rapid growth of cities in the forested wilderness of Amazonia and Congo (Figure S1). These growing cities within forested wilderness regions may pose a significant yet poorly understood threat to biodiversity below the canopy (Agrawal & Redford 2006) by increasing urban demand for wildlife as food. Urban demand for forest vertebrates drives the “bushmeat crisis”. Wildlife consumption behavior has been linked to poverty, substitution during food price shocks and wealth and prestige (Brashares et al 2004; Brashares et al 2011; Drury 2011)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion