Impacts of rural to urban migration, urbanization, and generational change on consumption of wild animals in the Amazon

Abstract

For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend is likely to continue, driven largely by rural-to-urban migration. We investigated how rural-to-urban migration, urbanization, and generational change affect the consumption of wild animals. We used chelonian (tortoises and freshwater turtles), one of the most hunted taxa in the Amazon, as a model. We surveyed 1356 households and 2776 school children across 10 urban areas of the Brazilian Amazon (6 small towns, 3 large towns, and Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon Basin) with a randomized response technique and anonymous questionnaires. Urban demand for wild meat (i.e., meat from wild animals) was alarmingly high. Approximately 1.7 million turtles and tortoises were consumed in urban areas of Amazonas during 2018. Consumption rates declined as size of the urban area increased and were greater for adults than children. Furthermore, the longer rural-to-urban migrants lived in urban areas, the lower their consumption rates. These results suggest that wild meat consumption is a rural-related tradition that decreases as urbanization increases and over time after people move to urban areas. However, it is unclear whether the observed decline will be fast enough to conserve hunted species, or whether children's consumption rate will remain the same as they become adults. Thus, conservation actions in urban areas are still needed. Current conservation efforts in the Amazon do not address urban demand for wildlife and may be insufficient to ensure the survival of traded species in the face of urbanization and human population growth. Our results suggest that conservation interventions must target the urban demand for wildlife, especially by focusing on young people and recent rural to urban migrants. Article impact statement: Amazon urbanite consumption of wildlife is high but decreases with urbanization, over time for rural to urban migrants, and between generations.

Wild meat trade over the last 45 years in the Peruvian Amazon

“…The inclusion of new technologies and transportation has enhanced the capacity of hunters to capture prey, even in previously inaccessible areas (Chaves et al., 2017; Bowler et al., 2020). However, in contrast to what we expected based on the findings from the Brazilian Amazon (Chaves et al., 2020), we did not find evidence of a decrease in wild meat consumption over generations. Even if ICPC were to remain constant, the overall sustainability threshold could be exceeded because of the constant increase in the urban population.…”

“…Low livestock productivity in the Afrotropics makes wild meat hunting one of the more profitable rural economic activities in this region (Milner‐Gulland et al., 2002). In contrast, as reported across the Amazon basin (Oestreicher et al., 2020; Chaves et al., 2020), in Iquitos, the increasing availability of cheaper sources of animal protein, such as poultry and fish, appears to have reduced dependence on wild meat. This suggests that economic development may be compatible with game species conservation.…”

Landscape configurations determining the genetic structure of the Yellow-Spotted Amazon River Turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) in Brazilian Amazonia

“…This potentially indicates that P. unifilis individuals can increase genetic diversity if the reduction in population numbers does not persist (Frankham et al 2008). But, considering that the main threat is overexploitation by the illegal trade for consumption, associated with high habitat reduction and degradation, current conservation efforts may be insufficient (Ferrara et al 2017; Chaves et al 2021), at least to guarantee the survival of this species in some localities. As an example, community-based turtle conservation projects (such as the Pé-de-pincha Program; Andrade 2022) that range many localities and different river channels in the Amazon, providing stable or increasing populations of P. unifilis in different areas and watersheds (Andrade et al 2022).…”

Pandemias e Mudanças Ambientais Globais: Qual é a Relação?

“…Esse é o caso das cidades amazônicas que, como visto, estão localizadas em contextos de alta biodiversidade de grupos de mamíferos, os quais são importantes hospedeiros de doenças capazes de afetar humanos (ELLWANGER; KULMANN-LEAL; KAMINSKI; VALVERDE-VILLEGAS et al, 2020). Outro fator que agrava o problema é o consumo de carne de caça observado em áreas urbanas da Amazônia (CHAVES; VALLE; TA-VARES; MORCATTY et al, 2021), aspecto que facilita maior exposição a patógenos.…”