Meat prices influence the consumption of wildlife by the Tsimane' Amerindians of Bolivia

Abstract

Wildlife (bushmeat or game) is the primary game. The results indicated that the price of fish and meat from livestock is positively correlated with con-source of protein for most poor households in tropical forests, and its consumption is resulting in unsustainable sumption of wildlife, suggesting that policy makers may be able to reduce the unsustainable hunting of wildlife hunting of large animals, even in isolated regions. As a result, loss of fauna is often a more immediate and for food by reducing the price of fish and the price of meat from domesticated animals relative to that of significant threat to the conservation of biological diversity in tropical forests than is deforestation. Although the wildlife. Increasing the production of livestock without causing environmental degradation will require long-potential eCects of the extirpation from tropical forests of large, seed predating and seed dispersing wild term public investment in agricultural research and extension, and substitution of fish for game meat in the animals is poorly understood, it is likely that there will be irrevocable changes in the structure and function absence of sustainable management regimes will result in over-exploitation of riverine and lacustrine fish stocks. of these ecosystems. We carried out a survey of 510 households of Tsimane' Amerindians in the rainforest of Bolivia to investigate how the prices of game and meat Keywords Bolivia, bushmeat, game, price elasticities, tropical forests, Tsimane' Amerindians, wildlife. from domesticated animals aCect the consumption of to species that are hunted for food. Hunting of wildlife Lilian Apaza and Eddy Pé rez Departamento de Biología, Universidad will alter the seed dispersal potential of up to 80% of Mayor de San André s, Casilla 10077-Correo Central Campus the tree species, aCecting seed shadows, seed rain, and

The effect of wealth and real income on wildlife consumption among native Amazonians in Bolivia: estimates of annual trends with longitudinal household data (2002–2006)

“…First, the data from Bolivia suggest that the income elasticity of fish consumption is sensitive to the year of measurement. In their comparative study with data from 1997 to 1998, Wilkie & Godoy (2001) found a statistically significant negative association between fish consumption and monetary income but the later study by Apaza et al (2002) carried out in 2000 among the Tsimane' found no such association. Second, the study of Vickers (1988) aside, none of the studies on wildlife consumption provide estimates of changes over time in wildlife consumption, and even Vickers relied on a small sample of observations (n = 6) and did not control for the role of income or other third variables.…”

“…Several studies have described Tsimane' use of game, fish and birds (Chicch´on, 1992;Apaza, 2001;P´erez, 2001;Wilkie & Godoy, 2001;Apaza et al, 2002Apaza et al, , 2003Gut´ıerrez, 2005). Besides analyzing the relation between: (1) household monetary income or household wealth; (2) wildlife consumption, the prior studies just cited make the following points that bear on this article: (a) Tsimane' use wildlife mainly for food rather than for other ends (e.g.…”

“…They did not include a measure of wealth, a serious shortcoming as food consumption typically reflects the role of both income and wealth, or temporary and permanent income (Friedman, 1957;Deaton, 1997). In a later study (2000) with a sample of 285 Tsimane' households in the Bolivian Amazon, Apaza et al (2002) found statistically insignificant income and wealth elasticities of game and fish consumption. They found household income elasticities of game and fish consumption of À0.01 (P= 0.85) and +0.003 (P= 0.94), and they found wealth elasticities of game and fish consumption of +0.061 (P= 0.60) and +0.13 (P= 0.27).…”

“…With only one exception known to us (Vickers, 1988), most of the socioeconomic studies of wildlife consumption among native Amazonians rely on cross-sectional data (Sierra et al, 1999;Wilkie & Godoy, 2001;Apaza et al, 2002). These studies show a variety of associations between household monetary income or household wealth and household consumption of wildlife.…”

Marine Turtles Nesting Activity Assessment and Trend along the Central African Atlantic Coast for the Period of 1999-2008

“…Two kinds of poaching can be differentiated. One represents a way to procure a primary source of protein [5,38,40] and the other is dedicated to commercial activity. Large towns have proved to create high pressure hunting areas [3].…”