Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting.
Conservation organizations have increasingly raised concerns about escalating rates of illegal hunting and trade in wildlife. Previous studies have concluded that people hunt illegally because they are financially poor or lack alternative livelihood strategies. However, there has been little attempt to develop a richer understanding of the motivations behind contemporary illegal wildlife hunting. As a first step, we reviewed the academic and policy literatures on poaching and illegal wildlife use and considered the meanings of poverty and the relative importance of structure and individual agency. We placed motivations for illegal wildlife hunting within the context of the complex history of how wildlife laws were initially designed and enforced to indicate how hunting practices by specific communities were criminalized. We also considered the nature of poverty and the reasons for economic deprivation in particular communities to indicate how particular understandings of poverty as material deprivation ultimately shape approaches to illegal wildlife hunting. We found there is a need for a much better understanding of what poverty is and what motivates people to hunt illegally.
Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom. rd38@soas.ac.uk.
Rosaleen
R
Duffy
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom.
Freya A V
FA
St John
Sociology of Development and Change Group, Wageningen University, Hollandsweg, 1 6706KN, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Bram
B
Büscher
Institute for Development Policy and Management, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Arthur Lewis Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
Dan
D
Brockington
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty
caza furtiva; cuerno de rinoceronte; desarrollo rural; ivory; marfil; mercado de fauna; poaching; rhino horn; rural development; wildlife trade