Sustainability of Hunting in Community-Based Wildlife Management in the Peruvian Amazon

Deepankar Mahabale (), Richard Bodmer (), Osnar Pizuri, Paola Uraco, Kimberlyn Chota, Miguel Antunez and Jim Groombridge
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Deepankar Mahabale: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, Kent, UK
Richard Bodmer: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, Kent, UK
Osnar Pizuri: FundAmazonia, 332 Malecon Tarapaca, Iquitos 16001, Peru
Paola Uraco: FundAmazonia, 332 Malecon Tarapaca, Iquitos 16001, Peru
Kimberlyn Chota: FundAmazonia, 332 Malecon Tarapaca, Iquitos 16001, Peru
Miguel Antunez: FundAmazonia, 332 Malecon Tarapaca, Iquitos 16001, Peru
Jim Groombridge: Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, Kent, UK

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Conservation strategies that use sustainable use of natural resources through green-labelled markets generally do not recognize the legal sale of wild meat as appropriate due to potential overexploitation and zoonotic disease risks. Wildlife hunting is important to the livelihoods of rural communities living in tropical forests for protein and income. Wildlife management plans in the Peruvian Amazon permit hunting of wild meat species for subsistence and sale at sustainable levels, that include peccaries, deer, and large rodents. These species have fast reproduction making them less vulnerable to overhunting than other species. This study assessed the sustainability of a wildlife management plan. Populations of species were estimated using camera traps and distance transect surveys, and sustainability analysis used hunting pressure from community hunting registers. Interviews were conducted to understand hunters, perceptions of the management plan. Long-term time-series showed increases in collared peccary (3.0 individual/km 2 to 5.41 individual/km 2 ) and white-lipped peccary (3.50 individual/km 2 to 7.00 individual/km 2 ) populations and short-term time series showed a decline in paca populations from 8.5 individual/km 2 to 3.01 individual/km 2 . The unified harvest analysis showed permitted species populations were greater than 60% of their carrying capacities and hunted at less than 40% of their production, which shows sustainable hunting. The wildlife management plan achieved its general objective of sustainable hunting and improving livelihoods. The broader question is whether sustainable wildlife use plans that allow Amazonian communities to sell limited amounts of wild meat can be a way to change illegal wild meat trade to a legal, green labelled trade with added value.

Keywords: Peruvian Amazon; management plan; neotropical mammal species; sustainable hunting; indigenous communities; community-based conservation; wildlife population modeling; indigenous hunting practices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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