Mapping the Research Landscape on Poaching: A Decadal Systematic Review

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.

Conceptualising Drivers of Illegal Hunting by Local Hunters Living in or Adjacent to African Protected Areas: A Scoping Review

“…In this study, cultural needs/significance was the second most identified thematic driver of illegal hunting among local hunters. A recent global systematic review by Lavadinović et al [34] also identified socio-cultural influence as the third most prevalent identified driver of poaching. The corroborative findings of studies by Lavadinović et al [34] and this study suggest that cultural factors (values, beliefs and norms towards wildlife) may have profound effects on hunter's behaviour towards wildlife species and their habitats and on societal responses to illegal hunting [35,36].…”

“…A recent global systematic review by Lavadinović et al [34] also identified socio-cultural influence as the third most prevalent identified driver of poaching. The corroborative findings of studies by Lavadinović et al [34] and this study suggest that cultural factors (values, beliefs and norms towards wildlife) may have profound effects on hunter's behaviour towards wildlife species and their habitats and on societal responses to illegal hunting [35,36]. However, data on and understanding of socio-cultural values, beliefs and norms towards wildlife, bushmeat and the environment have been low [37].…”

Understanding the Illegal Wildlife Trade in Vietnam: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Like recent systematic review studies in green criminology with a mixture of the different online databases (Kurland et al 2017;Lavadinovic et al 2021;Mbzibain and Mohamed 2020;McFann and Pires 2020;Thomson et al 2019), this study used Scopus to collect data which is a citation index. Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings.…”

Poaching and hunting, conflicts and health: human dimensions of wildlife conservation in the Brazilian Cerrado

“…Local opinions about hunting can vary from it being a key livelihood activity to a very disapproved act, from a symbol of freedom to an expression of colonialism, having deep social and cultural roots. Hunting regulations are very different among countries, which classify different activities as poaching (Lavadinovićet al, 2021).…”