title: Understanding Urban Demand for Wild Meat in Vietnam: Implications for Conservation Actions.
abstract: Vietnam is a significant consumer of wildlife, particularly wild meat, in urban restaurant settings. To meet this demand, poaching of wildlife is widespread, threatening regional and international biodiversity. Previous interventions to tackle illegal and potentially unsustainable consumption of wild meat in Vietnam have generally focused on limiting supply. While critical, they have been impeded by a lack of resources, the presence of increasingly organised criminal networks and corruption. Attention is, therefore, turning to the consumer, but a paucity of research investigating consumer demand for wild meat will impede the creation of effective consumer-centred interventions. Here we used a mixed-methods research approach comprising a hypothetical choice modelling survey and qualitative interviews to explore the drivers of wild meat consumption and consumer preferences among residents of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Our findings indicate that demand for wild meat is heterogeneous and highly context specific. Wild-sourced, rare, and expensive wild meat-types are eaten by those situated towards the top of the societal hierarchy to convey wealth and status and are commonly consumed in lucrative business contexts. Cheaper, legal and farmed substitutes for wild-sourced meats are also consumed, but typically in more casual consumption or social drinking settings. We explore the implications of our results for current conservation interventions in Vietnam that attempt to tackle illegal and potentially unsustainable trade in and consumption of wild meat and detail how our research informs future consumer-centric conservation actions.
authors.affiliation: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shairp
authors.affiliation: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Diogo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Veríssimo
authors.affiliation: School of Economics, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.affiliation: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Challender
authors.affiliation: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, Marlowe Building, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacMillan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000191:economics*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014744:Vietnam