Designing celebrity-endorsed behavioral interventions in conservation.

The use of celebrity endorsement in environmental conservation interventions aiming to influence human behavior has increased in recent decades. Although good practice in designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioral interventions is outlined in recent publications, guidance on developing conservation interventions with celebrity endorsement remains limited. To fill this gap, we devised a guide for decision-making relating to celebrity-endorsed behavioral interventions based on the behavioral, project design, and celebrity endorsement literatures. The guide advises conducting research to understand the behavior system in question; defining endorser selection models and celebrities based on the research; developing an endorsement strategy with the appropriate communication channels; testing the celebrity, channels, and strategy with the target audience and making adjustments as needed; and, finally, evaluating the intervention after implementation. We applied this strategy to a case study, the aim of which was to design a celebrity-endorsed intervention to reduce consumption of wild meat in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Following our guide, we found that employing evidence-based decision-making substantially enhanced our ability to understand the complexity and potential cost associated with using celebrity endorsements in behavioral interventions.

Diseño de intervenciones conductuales para la conservación apoyadas por celebridades Resumen En las últimas décadas se ha incrementado el uso del apoyo de celebridades en las intervenciones de conservación ambiental que buscan influir sobre la conducta humana. Aunque las publicaciones recientes describen las buenas prácticas en el diseño, implementación y evaluación de las intervenciones conductuales, todavía son limitadas las directrices sobre el desarrollo de intervenciones de conservación apoyadas por celebridades. Para llenar este vacío, diseñamos una guía para decidir en relación con las intervenciones conductuales apoyadas por celebridades con base en la literatura sobre las conductas, diseño de proyectos y apoyo de celebridades. La guía recomienda investigar para entender el sistema conductual en cuestión; definir los modelos de selección de patrocinadores y celebridades con base en esta investigación; desarrollar una estrategia de apoyo con los canales adecuados de comunicación; probar los canales, estrategia y celebridades con el público objetivo y realizar los ajustes necesarios; y, por último, la evaluación de la intervención posterior a la implementación. Aplicamos esta estrategia a un estudio de caso, cuyo objetivo era diseñar una intervención con apoyo de celebridades para reducir el consumo de fauna en Ciudad Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Con nuestra guía encontramos que el uso de decisiones basadas en evidencias mejoró sustancialmente nuestra capacidad para entender la complejidad y el costo potencial asociado con el uso de apoyo de celebridades en las intervenciones conductuales.

An experimental game to assess hunter's participation in zoonotic diseases surveillance.

BACKGROUND: Strengthening the surveillance of zoonotic diseases emergence in the wild meat value chains is a critical component of the prevention of future health crises. Community hunters could act as first-line observers in zoonotic pathogens surveillance systems in wildlife, by reporting early signs of the possible presence of a disease in the game animals they observe and manipulate on a regular basis. METHODS: An experimental game was developed and implemented in a forested area of Gabon, in central Africa. Our objective was to improve our understanding of community hunters' decision-making when finding signs of zoonotic diseases in game animals: would they report or dissimulate these findings to a health agency? 88 hunters, divided into 9 groups of 5 to 13 participants, participated in the game, which was run over 21 rounds. In each round the players participated in a simulated hunting trip during which they had a chance of capturing a wild animal displaying clinical signs of a zoonotic disease. When signs were visible, players had to decide whether to sell/consume the animal or to report it. The last option implied a lowered revenue from the hunt but an increased probability of early detection of zoonotic diseases with benefits for the entire group of hunters. RESULTS: The results showed that false alerts-i.e. a suspect case not caused by a zoonotic disease-led to a decrease in the number of reports in the next round (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.46, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.36-0.8, p < 0.01). Hunters who had an agricultural activity in addition to hunting reported suspect cases more often than others (OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.09-3.88, p < 0.03). The number of suspect case reports increased with the rank of the game round (Incremental OR: 1.11, CI: 1.06-1.17, p < 0.01) suggesting an increase in participants' inclination to report throughout the game. CONCLUSION: Using experimental games presents an added value for improving the understanding of people's decisions to participate in health surveillance systems.

Mapping Global Bushmeat Activities to Improve Zoonotic Spillover Surveillance by Using Geospatial Modeling.

Human populations that hunt, butcher, and sell bushmeat (bushmeat activities) are at increased risk for zoonotic pathogen spillover. Despite associations with global epidemics of severe illnesses, such as Ebola and mpox, quantitative assessments of bushmeat activities are lacking. However, such assessments could help prioritize pandemic prevention and preparedness efforts. We used geospatial models that combined published data on bushmeat activities and ecologic and demographic drivers to map the distribution of bushmeat activities in rural regions globally. The resulting map had high predictive capacity for bushmeat activities (true skill statistic = 0.94). The model showed that mammal species richness and deforestation were principal drivers of the geographic distribution of bushmeat activities and that countries in West and Central Africa had the highest proportion of land area associated with bushmeat activities. These findings could help prioritize future surveillance of bushmeat activities and forecast emerging zoonoses at a global scale.

Vulnerability and coping strategies within wild meat trade networks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measures adopted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and economic shocks caused by the pandemic have affected food networks globally, including wild meat trade networks that support the livelihoods and food security of millions of people around the world. In this article, we examine how COVID-related shocks have affected the vulnerability and coping strategies of different actors along wild meat trade networks. Informed by 1,876 questionnaires carried out with wild meat hunters, traders, vendors, and consumers in Cameroon, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Guyana, the article presents qualitative evidence as to how COVID-19 impacted different segments of society involved in wild meat trade networks. Our findings largely align with McNamara et al. (2020) and Kamogne Tagne et al.'s (2022) causal model hypothesising how the impacts of the pandemic could lead to a change in local incentives for wild meat hunting in sub-Saharan African countries. Like McNamara et al. (2020) and Kamogne Tagne et al. (2022), we find that the pandemic reduced wild meat availability for wild meat actors in urban areas while increasing reliance on wild meat for subsistence purposes in rural areas. However, we find some impact pathways to be more relevant than others, and also incorporate additional impact pathways into the existing causal model. Based on our findings, we argue that wild meat serves as an important safety net in response to shocks for some actors in wild meat trade networks. We conclude by advocating for policies and development interventions that seek to improve the safety and sustainability of wild meat trade networks and protect access to wild meat as an environmental coping strategy during times of crisis.

Impacts of rural to urban migration, urbanization, and generational change on consumption of wild animals in the Amazon.

For the first time in history, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend is likely to continue, driven largely by rural-to-urban migration. We investigated how rural-to-urban migration, urbanization, and generational change affect the consumption of wild animals. We used chelonian (tortoises and freshwater turtles), one of the most hunted taxa in the Amazon, as a model. We surveyed 1356 households and 2776 school children across 10 urban areas of the Brazilian Amazon (6 small towns, 3 large towns, and Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon Basin) with a randomized response technique and anonymous questionnaires. Urban demand for wild meat (i.e., meat from wild animals) was alarmingly high. Approximately 1.7 million turtles and tortoises were consumed in urban areas of Amazonas during 2018. Consumption rates declined as size of the urban area increased and were greater for adults than children. Furthermore, the longer rural-to-urban migrants lived in urban areas, the lower their consumption rates. These results suggest that wild meat consumption is a rural-related tradition that decreases as urbanization increases and over time after people move to urban areas. However, it is unclear whether the observed decline will be fast enough to conserve hunted species, or whether children's consumption rate will remain the same as they become adults. Thus, conservation actions in urban areas are still needed. Current conservation efforts in the Amazon do not address urban demand for wildlife and may be insufficient to ensure the survival of traded species in the face of urbanization and human population growth. Our results suggest that conservation interventions must target the urban demand for wildlife, especially by focusing on young people and recent rural to urban migrants. Article impact statement: Amazon urbanite consumption of wildlife is high but decreases with urbanization, over time for rural to urban migrants, and between generations. Impactos de la Migración del Campo a la Ciudad, la Urbanización y del Cambio Generacional sobre el Consumo de Animales Silvestres en el Amazonas.

Por primera vez en la historia, la población urbana es mayor que la rural. Es muy probable que esta tendencia continúe debido a la migración del campo a la ciudad. Investigamos el efecto de la migración del campo a la ciudad, la urbanización y el cambio generacional sobre el consumo de animales silvestres. Utilizamos como modelo a los quelonios (tortugas acuáticas y terrestres), uno de los taxa más cazados en el Amazonas. Aplicamos encuestas en 1,356 casas y a 2,776 niños en edad escolar en 10 áreas urbanas de la Amazonía brasileña (6 poblados pequeños, 3 poblados grandes y Manaos, la mayor ciudad en la Cuenca del Amazonas) mediante una técnica de respuesta aleatoria y cuestionarios anónimos. La demanda urbana de carne silvestre (i.e., carne de animales silvestres) fue alarmantemente alta. Aproximadamente 1.7 millones de tortugas acuáticas y terrestres fueron consumidas en áreas urbanas del Amazonas durante 2018. Las tasas de consumo declinaron a medida que incrementó la superficie urbana y fueron mayores en adultos que en niños. Más aun, entre más tiempo viviendo en áreas urbanas, las tasas de consumo fueron menores en los migrantes del campo a la ciudad. Estos resultados sugieren que el consumo de carne silvestre es una tradición rural que disminuye a medida que aumenta la urbanización y el tiempo desde que los habitantes se mueven a la ciudad. Sin embargo, no es claro si la declinación observada será lo suficientemente rápida para conservar a las especies cazadas, o si la tasa de consumo de los niños permanecerá igual cuando sean adultos. Por lo tanto, aun se requieren acciones de conservación en áreas urbanas. Los actuales esfuerzos de conservación en el Amazonas no abordan la demanda urbana de carne de monte y pueden ser insuficientes para asegurar la supervivencia de especies comercializadas ante la urbanización y el crecimiento de la población humana. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las intervenciones de conservación deben atender la demanda de fauna silvestre, con énfasis en los jóvenes y los migrantes recientes.

Understanding the distribution of bushmeat hunting effort across landscapes by testing hypotheses about human foraging.

Mitigating the massive impacts of defaunation on natural ecosystems requires understanding and predicting hunting effort across the landscape. But such understanding has been hindered by the difficulty of assessing the movement patterns of hunters in thick forests and across complex terrain. We statistically tested hypotheses about the spatial distribution of hunting with circuit theory and structural equation models. We used a data set of >7000 known kill locations in Guyana and hunter movement models to test these methods. Comparing models with different resistance layers (i.e., different estimates of how terrain and land cover influence human movement speed) showed that rivers, on average, limited movement rather than serving as transport arteries. Moreover, far more kills occurred close to villages than in remote areas. This, combined with the lack of support for structural equation models that included latent terms for prey depletion driven by past overhunting, suggests that kill locations in this system tended to be driven by where hunters were currently foraging rather than by influences of historical harvest. These analyses are generalizable to a variety of ecosystems, species, and data types, providing a powerful way of enhancing maps and predictions of hunting effort across complex landscapes.

Comprensión de la Distribución de los Esfuerzos por Obtener Carne de Caza a lo largo de un Paisaje Mediante la Comprobación de Hipótesis sobre el Forrajeo Humano Resumen La mitigación de los impactos masivos de la defaunación sobre los ecosistemas naturales requiere de comprensión y predicción de los esfuerzos de caza a lo largo del paisaje. Dicha comprensión se ha visto obstaculizada por la dificultad que representa la evaluación de los patrones de movimiento de los cazadores en bosques densos y a través de un terreno complejo. Analizamos estadísticamente las hipótesis sobre la distribución espacial de la cacería mediante una teoría de circuito y modelos de ecuaciones estructurales. Usamos un conjunto de datos de más de 7000 localidades conocidas de sacrificios en Guayana y los modelos de movimiento de los cazadores para probar estos modelos. La comparación entre modelos con diferentes capas de resistencia (es decir, diferentes estimaciones de cómo el terreno y la cobertura de suelo influyen sobre la velocidad del movimiento humano) mostró que los ríos, en promedio, limitaron el movimiento en lugar de funcionar como arterias de transporte. Además, ocurrieron mucho más sacrificios cerca de las aldeas que en las áreas remotas. Lo anterior, combinado con la falta de apoyo para los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales que incluyeron los términos latentes para la reducción de presas causada por la sobrecaza pasada, sugiere que las localidades de sacrificios en este sistema tendieron a ser seleccionadas por la ubicación actual en la que los cazadores se encontraban forrajeando y no por la influencia de la cosecha histórica. Estos análisis son generalizables para una variedad de ecosistemas, especies y tipos de datos, lo que proporciona una manera poderosa de mejorar los mapas y las predicciones de los esfuerzos de cacería a través de paisajes complejos.

Bushmeat, wet markets, and the risks of pandemics: Exploring the nexus through systematic review of scientific disclosures.

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is the third coronavirus this century to threaten human health, killing more than two million people globally. Like previous coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is suspected to have wildlife origins and was possibly transmitted to humans via wet markets selling bushmeat (aka harvested wild meat). Thus, an interdisciplinary framework is vital to address the nexus between bushmeat, wet markets, and disease. We reviewed the contemporary scientific literature to: (1) assess disease surveillance efforts within the bushmeat trade and wet markets globally by compiling zoonotic health risks based on primarily serological examinations; and (2) gauge perceptions of health risks associated with bushmeat and wet markets. Of the 58 species of bushmeat investigated across 15 countries in the 52 articles that we analyzed,one or more pathogens (totaling 60 genera of pathogens) were reported in 48 species, while no zoonotic pathogens were reported in 10 species based on serology. Burden of disease data was nearly absent from the articles resulting from our Scopus search, and therefore was not included in our analyses. We also found that perceived health risks associated with bushmeat was low, though we could not perform statistical analyses due to the lack of quantitative perception-based studies. After screening the literature, our results showed that the global distribution of reported bushmeat studies were biased towards Africa, revealing data deficiencies across Asia and South America despite the prevalence of the bushmeat trade across the Global South. Studies targeting implications of the bushmeat trade on human health can help address these data deficiencies across Asia and South America. We further illustrate the need to address the nexus between bushmeat, wet markets, and disease to help prevent future outbreaks of zoonotic diseases under the previously proposed "One Health Framework", which integrates human, animal, and environmental health. By tackling these three pillars, we discuss the current policy gaps and recommend suitable measures to prevent future disease outbreaks.

Predicting defaunation: accurately mapping bushmeat hunting pressure over large areas.

Unsustainable hunting is emptying forests of large animals around the world, but current understanding of how human foraging spreads across landscapes has been stymied by data deficiencies and cryptic hunter behaviour. Unlike other global threats to biodiversity like deforestation, climate change and overfishing, maps of wild meat hunters' movements-often based on forest accessibility-typically cover small scales and are rarely validated with real-world observations. Using camera trapping data from rainforests across Malaysian Borneo, we show that while hunter movements are strongly correlated with the accessibility of different parts of the landscape, accessibility measures are most informative when they integrate fine-scale habitat features like topography and land cover. Measures of accessibility naive to fine-scale habitat complexity, like distance to the nearest road or settlement, generate poor approximations of hunters' movements. In comparison, accessibility as measured by high-resolution movement models based on circuit theory provides vastly better reflections of real-world foraging movements. Our results highlight that simple models incorporating fine-scale landscape heterogeneity can be powerful tools for understanding and predicting widespread threats to biodiversity.

Effect of decision rules in choice experiments on hunting and bushmeat trade.

Providing insight on decisions to hunt and trade bushmeat can facilitate improved management interventions that typically include enforcement, alternative employment, and donation of livestock. Conservation interventions to regulate bushmeat hunting and trade have hitherto been based on assumptions of utility- (i.e., personal benefits) maximizing behavior, which influences the types of incentives designed. However, if individuals instead strive to minimize regret, interventions may be misguided. We tested support for 3 hypotheses regarding decision rules through a choice experiment in Tanzania. We estimated models based on the assumptions of random utility maximization (RUM) and pure random regret maximization (P-RRM) and combinations thereof. One of these models had an attribute-specific decision rule and another had a class-specific decision rule. The RUM model outperformed the P-RRM model, but the attribute-specific model performed better. Allowing respondents with different decision rules and preference heterogeneity within each decision rule in a class-specific model performed best, revealing that 55% of the sample used a P-RRM decision rule. Individuals using a P-RRM decision rule responded less to enforcement, salary, and livestock donation than did individuals using the RUM decision rule. Hence, 3 common strategies, enforcement, alternative income-generating activities, and providing livestock as a substitute protein, are likely less effective in changing the behavior of more than half of respondents. Only salary elicited a large (i.e. elastic) response, and only for one RUM class. Policies to regulate the bushmeat trade based solely on the assumption of individuals maximizing utility, may fail for a significant proportion of the sample. Despite the superior performance of models that allow both RUM and P-RRM decision rules there are drawbacks that must be considered before use in the Global South, where very little is known about the social-psychology of decision making.

Efecto de las Reglas de Decisión en los Experimentos de Selección sobre la Cacería y el Mercado de la Carne de Animales Silvestres Resumen La obtención de conocimiento del porqué se elige cazar o comerciar con carne de animales silvestres puede facilitar mejoras en el manejo de las intervenciones que típicamente incluyen el cumplimiento de leyes, el empleo alternativo y la donación de ganado. Las intervenciones de conservación para regular la cacería y el comercio hasta ahora han estado basadas en suposiciones de comportamiento de maximización de la utilidad (es decir, los beneficios personales), las cuales influyen sobre los tipos de incentivos que son diseñados. Sin embargo, si los individuos en lugar de eso buscan minimizar el arrepentimiento, las intervenciones pueden ser erróneas. Evaluamos el apoyo para tres hipótesis con respecto a las reglas de decisión mediante un experimento de selección en Tanzania. Estimamos los modelos con base en las suposiciones de la maximización aleatoria de la utilidad (MAU) y la maximización aleatoria pura del arrepentimiento (MAPA) y las combinaciones de estas. Uno de estos modelos tuvo una regla de decisión específica de atributo y otro modelo tuvo una regla de decisión específica de clase. El modelo MAU tuvo un mucho mejor desempeño que el modelo MAPA, pero el modelo específico de atributo fue el que tuvo el mejor desempeño de todos. El mejor desempeño se observó cuando permitimos a los respondientes con diferentes reglas de decisión y con heterogeneidad de preferencia dentro de cada regla de decisión en un modelo específico de clase, lo que revela que el 55% de las muestras usaron una regla de decisión MAPA. Los individuos que usaron una regla de decisión MAPA respondieron menos al cumplimiento de leyes, el salario y la donación de ganado que aquellos individuos que usaron la regla de decisión MAU. Por esto, las tres estrategias comunes (cumplimiento de leyes, actividades alternativas generadoras de ingresos y el sustento de ganado como sustituto de la proteína) probablemente sean menos efectivas en el cambio del comportamiento de más de la mitad de los respondientes. Solamente el salario provocó una respuesta elástica, y solamente fue para una clase MAU. Las políticas que regulan el mercado de la carne de animales silvstres basadas solamente en la suposición de que los individuos maximizan la utilidad pueden fallar para una proporción significativa de la muestra. A pesar del desempeño superior de los modelos que permiten las reglas de decisión MAU y MAPA, existen desventajas que deben ser consideradas antes del uso de los modelos en el hemisferio sur, en donde se conoce muy poco sobre la psicología social de las decisiones.

COVID-19, Systemic Crisis, and Possible Implications for the Wild Meat Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Wild animals play an integral and complex role in the economies and ecologies of many countries across the globe, including those of West and Central Africa, the focus of this policy perspective. The trade in wild meat, and its role in diets, have been brought into focus as a consequence of discussions over the origins of COVID-19. As a result, there have been calls for the closure of China's "wet markets"; greater scrutiny of the wildlife trade in general; and a spotlight has been placed on the potential risks posed by growing human populations and shrinking natural habitats for animal to human transmission of zoonotic diseases. However, to date there has been little attention given to what the consequences of the COVID-19 economic shock may be for the wildlife trade; the people who rely on it for their livelihoods; and the wildlife that is exploited. In this policy perspective, we argue that the links between the COVID-19 pandemic, rural livelihoods and wildlife are likely to be more complex, more nuanced, and more far-reaching, than is represented in the literature to date. We develop a causal model that tracks the likely implications for the wild meat trade of the systemic crisis triggered by COVID-19. We focus on the resulting economic shockwave, as manifested in the collapse in global demand for commodities such as oil, and international tourism services, and what this may mean for local African economies and livelihoods. We trace the shockwave through to the consequences for the use of, and demand for, wild meats as households respond to these changes. We suggest that understanding and predicting the complex dynamics of wild meat use requires increased collaboration between environmental and resource economics and the ecological and conservation sciences.

Detecting deterrence from patrol data.

The threat posed to protected areas by the illegal killing of wildlife is countered principally by ranger patrols that aim to detect and deter potential offenders. Deterring poaching is a fundamental conservation objective, but its achievement is difficult to identify, especially when the prime source of information comes in the form of the patrols' own records, which inevitably contain biases. The most common metric of deterrence is a plot of illegal activities detected per unit of patrol effort (CPUE) against patrol effort (CPUE-E). We devised a simple, mechanistic model of law breaking and law enforcement in which we simulated deterrence alongside exogenous changes in the frequency of offences under different temporal patterns of enforcement effort. The CPUE-E plots were not reliable indicators of deterrence. However, plots of change in CPUE over change in effort (ΔCPUE-ΔE) reliably identified deterrence, regardless of the temporal distribution of effort or any exogenous change in illegal activity levels as long as the time lag between patrol effort and subsequent behavioral change among offenders was approximately known. The ΔCPUE-ΔE plots offered a robust, simple metric for monitoring patrol effectiveness; were no more conceptually complicated than the basic CPUE-E plots; and required no specialist knowledge or software to produce. Our findings demonstrate the need to account for temporal autocorrelation in patrol data and to consider appropriate (and poaching-activity-specific) intervals for aggregation. They also reveal important gaps in understanding of deterrence in this context, especially the mechanisms by which it occurs. In practical applications, we recommend the use of ΔCPUE-ΔE plots in preference to other basic metrics and advise that deterrence should be suspected only if there is a clear negative slope. Distinct types of illegal activity should not be grouped together for analysis, especially if the signs of their occurrence have different persistence times in the environment.

Detección de la Disuasión a Partir de Datos de Patrullaje Resumen La amenaza que representa la caza ilegal de fauna para las áreas protegidas está contrarrestada principalmente por las patrullas de guardias que buscan detectar y disuadir a los delincuentes potenciales. La disuasión de la caza furtiva es un objetivo fundamental de la conservación, pero es difícil identificar cuándo se logra, especialmente cuando la fuente principal de información proviene de los propios registros de las patrullas, que inevitablemente contiene sesgos. La medida más común de la disuasión es una parcela de actividades ilegales detectadas por unidad de esfuerzo de patrullaje (CPUE, en inglés) contra el esfuerzo de patrullaje (CPUE-E, en inglés). Diseñamos un modelo simple y mecánico del rompimiento y aplicación de la ley en el cual simulamos la disuasión junto con cambios exógenos en la frecuencia de ofensas bajo diferentes patrones temporales del esfuerzo de aplicación. Las parcelas de CPUE-E no fueron indicadores confiables de la disuasión. Sin embargo, las parcelas de cambio de CPUE sobre cambio en el esfuerzo (ΔCPUE-ΔE) identificaron con seguridad la disuasión sin importar la distribución temporal del esfuerzo o cualquier cambio exógeno en los niveles de actividad ilegal siempre y cuando el retraso en el tiempo entre el esfuerzo de patrullaje y el cambio en comportamiento subsecuente entre los delincuentes se conocía con cierta aproximación. Las parcelas de ΔCPUE-ΔE ofrecieron una medida simple y sólida para el monitoreo de la efectividad del patrullaje; no fueron más complicadas conceptualmente que las parcelas básicas de CPUE-E; y no requirieron de conocimiento de especialistas o algún software para producir. Nuestros hallazgos demuestran la necesidad de dar cuenta de la autocorrelación temporal en los datos de patrullaje y de considerar intervalos apropiados (y específicos a la actividad de caza furtiva) para su agregación. Nuestros hallazgos también revelan vacíos importantes en el entendimiento de la disuasión en este contexto, especialmente para los mecanismos mediante los cuales ocurre. En las aplicaciones prácticas recomendamos el uso de parcelas de ΔCPUE-ΔE por encima de otras medidas básicas y recomendamos que se sospeche de la disuasión sólo si existe una clara pendiente negativa. No se deben agrupar diferentes tipos de actividades ilegales para su análisis, especialmente si las señales de su ocurrencia tienen diferentes momentos de persistencia en el ambiente.

Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia.

Although deforestation and forest degradation have long been considered the most significant threats to tropical biodiversity, across Southeast Asia (Northeast India, Indochina, Sundaland, Philippines) substantial areas of natural habitat have few wild animals (>1 kg), bar a few hunting-tolerant species. To document hunting impacts on vertebrate populations regionally, we conducted an extensive literature review, including papers in local journals and reports of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Evidence from multiple sites indicated animal populations declined precipitously across the region since approximately 1980, and many species are now extirpated from substantial portions of their former ranges. Hunting is by far the greatest immediate threat to the survival of most of the region's endangered vertebrates. Causes of recent overhunting include improved access to forests and markets, improved hunting technology, and escalating demand for wild meat, wildlife-derived medicinal products, and wild animals as pets. Although hunters often take common species, such as pigs or rats, for their own consumption, they take rarer species opportunistically and sell surplus meat and commercially valuable products. There is also widespread targeted hunting of high-value species. Consequently, as currently practiced, hunting cannot be considered sustainable anywhere in the region, and in most places enforcement of protected-area and protected-species legislation is weak. The international community's focus on cross-border trade fails to address overexploitation of wildlife because hunting and the sale of wild meat is largely a local issue and most of the harvest is consumed in villages, rural towns, and nearby cities. In addition to improved enforcement, efforts to engage hunters and manage wildlife populations through sustainable hunting practices are urgently needed. Unless there is a step change in efforts to reduce wildlife exploitation to sustainable levels, the region will likely lose most of its iconic species, and many others besides, within the next few years.

Is social media the new wet market? Social media platforms facilitate the online sale of bushmeat in West Africa.

Social media provides a platform for wildlife crime syndicates to access a global consumer-driven market. Whilst studies have uncovered the online trade in wildlife, the availability of wild meat (bushmeat) has not been assessed. To investigate the sale of wild meat online, we analysed 563 posts published between 2018 and 2022 from six West African Facebook pages selected using predetermined search criteria. Across 1511 images and 18 videos, we visually identified 25 bushmeat species-level taxa including mammals (six Rodentia, five Artiodactyla, three Carnivora, two Pholidota, one Primate, two Lagomorpha, one Hyracoidea), birds (three Galliformes) and reptiles (two Squamata), predominately advertised as smoked (63%) or fresh (30%) whole carcasses or portions. Among the species identified, 16% feature a status of concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List (Near Threatened to Endangered), 16% are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES; Appendix I and II) and 24% are either fully or partially protected by local legislation. Images were commonly used as propaganda rather than to display inventory, where additional taxa protected from game hunting in West Africa, such as hornbill, were exclusively listed in captions. The advertisement of these protected and vulnerable species on the surface web indicates weak local and international legislative enforcement. Comparatively, when the same search criteria were applied to the deep web browser Tor no results were generated, reinforcing the idea that bushmeat vendors have no need to hide their activities online. Despite local and international trade restrictions, the taxa advertised feature similarities with bushmeat seizures reported in Europe, alluding to the interconnectedness of the trade facilitated by social media. We conclude that enhanced policy enforcement is essential to combat the online sale of bushmeat and mitigate the potential biodiversity and public health impacts.

Illegal Harvesting within a Protected Area: Spatial Distribution of Activities, Social Drivers of Wild Meat Consumption, and Wildlife Conservation.

The African tropical forests host an inestimable number of resources, including food, medicine, vegetal and animal species. Among them, chimpanzees are threatened with extinction by human activities affecting their habitats, such as forest product harvesting, and/or more directly, snaring and trafficking. We aimed to better understand the spatial distribution of these illegal activities, and the reasons for setting snares and consuming wild meat in an agricultural landscape (subsistence farming and cash crops) densely populated near a protected area (Sebitoli, Northern part of Kibale National Park, Uganda). To carry out this study, we combined GPS records of illegal activities collected with group counts (in total, n = 339 tea workers, 678 villagers, and 1885 children) and individual interviews (n = 74 tea workers, 42 villagers, and 35 children). A quarter of illegal activities collected (n = 1661) targeted animal resources and about 60% were recorded in specific areas (southwest and northeast) of the Sebitoli chimpanzee home range. Wild meat consumption, which is illegal in Uganda, is a relatively common practice among participants (17.1% to 54.1% of respondents depending on actor types and census methods). However, consumers declared that they eat wild meat unfrequently (0.6 to 2.8 times per year). Being a young man coming from districts contiguous to Kibale National Park particularly raises the odds of consuming wild meat. Such an analysis contributes to the understanding of wild meat hunting among traditional rural and agricultural societies from East Africa.

Guidelines on the hygienic management of wild meat in Japan.

The density and distribution of wild ungulates, especially sika deer (Cervus nippon) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), have increased across the Japanese archipelago in the last two decades. The tradition of consuming wild game meat has been inherited in limited areas in Japan, but recently, the use of wild animals for food has increased. Game meat has become popular at local restaurants and retail meat shops. However, fundamental knowledge of game meat hygiene and health risks has not been fully established among hunters, meat processors, restaurant operators, and consumers. Moreover, game meat-borne illnesses have been reported occasionally. Unlike domesticated livestock, wild animals are not inspected for diseases when being butchered for food, and the meat obtained is at a high risk of being unhygienic. The Guidelines on the hygienic management of wild meat were established in 2014 to ensure the safety of wild meat in Japan. This study describes the situation regarding wild animals and game meat in Japan.

Averting wildlife-borne infectious disease epidemics requires a focus on socio-ecological drivers and a redesign of the global food system.

A debate has emerged over the potential socio-ecological drivers of wildlife-origin zoonotic disease outbreaks and emerging infectious disease (EID) events. This Review explores the extent to which the incidence of wildlife-origin infectious disease outbreaks, which are likely to include devastating pandemics like HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, may be linked to excessive and increasing rates of tropical deforestation for agricultural food production and wild meat hunting and trade, which are further related to contemporary ecological crises such as global warming and mass species extinction. Here we explore a set of precautionary responses to wildlife-origin zoonosis threat, including: (a) limiting human encroachment into tropical wildlands by promoting a global transition to diets low in livestock source foods; (b) containing tropical wild meat hunting and trade by curbing urban wild meat demand, while securing access for indigenous people and local communities in remote subsistence areas; and (c) improving biosecurity and other strategies to break zoonosis transmission pathways at the wildlife-human interface and along animal source food supply chains.

Understanding Factors that Shape Exposure to Zoonotic and Food-Borne Diseases Across Wild Meat Trade Chains.

The rise of zoonotic disease-related public health crises has sparked calls for policy action, including calls to close wildlife markets. Yet, these calls often reflect limited understanding of where, precisely, exposure to risk occurs along wildlife and wild meat trade chains. They also threaten to negatively impact food security and livelihoods. From a public health perspective, it is important to understand the practices that shape food safety all along the trade chain, resulting in meat that is either safe to eat or managed as a potential vector of pathogens. This article uses ethnographic methods to examine the steps that lead a wild animal from the forest to the plate of an urban consumer in Yangambi and Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Focusing on hunters, village-level consumers, transporters, market traders and urban consumers, we highlight specific practices that expose different actors involved in the trade chain to wild meat related health risks, including exposure to food borne illnesses from contaminated meat and zoonotic pathogens through direct contact with wild animals, and the local practices in place to reduce the same. We discuss interventions that could help prevent and mitigate zoonotic and food borne disease risks associated with wild meat trade chains.

How the loss of forest fauna undermines the achievement of the SDGs.

The human-driven loss of biodiversity has numerous ecological, social, and economic impacts at the local and global levels, threatening important ecological functions and jeopardizing human well-being. In this perspective, we present an overview of how tropical defaunation-defined as the disappearance of fauna as a result of anthropogenic drivers such as hunting and habitat alteration in tropical forest ecosystems-is interlinked with four selected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We discuss tropical defaunation related to nutrition and zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), climate action (SDG 13), and life on land (SDG 15). We propose a range of options on how to study defaunation in future research and how to address the ongoing tropical defaunation crisis, including but not limited to recent insights from policy, conservation management, and development practice.

Toxic Metals in Wild Ungulates and Domestic Meat Animals Slaughtered for Food Purposes: A Systemic Review.

The presence of toxic metals in harvested game meat is a cause for concern for public health and meat safety in general. Authorities and food safety agencies continue to develop guidelines and limits of the maximum allowable levels of toxic metals in food products. However, the situation is different for game meat products in developing countries, where a number of shortcomings have been identified. This includes a lack of game meat animal slaughter regulations, specific species' product limits that have not yet been established and the continued use of hunting or game meat animals' harvesting plans that could introduce the same toxic metals of concern. This review was conducted from English literature published between 2011 and 2021; it highlights the possible health effects and the shortcomings in the implementation of game meat safety production strategies for toxic metals (Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium and Mercury) in game meat animal production. Lead (Pb) remains the most significant threat for toxic metals contamination in game meat animals and the slaughter processes. In most developing countries, including in South Africa, the monitoring and control of these heavy metals in the game meat value chain has not yet been implemented.

Species misidentification in local markets: Discrepancies between reporting and molecular identification of bushmeat species in northern Uganda.

Bushmeat hunting and consumption, although widely utilized as necessary supplement to household income and nutrition in many regions, presents threats to public health and wildlife conservation efforts. In northern Uganda, consumption of bats and primates, two wildlife groups often implicated in zoonotic disease emergence, is not widely culturally accepted; however, these species are reported by hunters to often be hunted and sold as culturally desirable species, like antelope and warthog. To investigate the prevalence of market bushmeat misidentifiction, we collected 229 bushmeat samples from 23 communities adjacent to Murchison Falls National Park. Reported species was recorded on acquisition for each sample. PCR targeting mammalian cyt b and 12 s rRNA genes and sequencing were performed to identify samples to the lowest taxonomic unit using NCBI BLAST. Overall, 27.9% (61/219) of samples had disparate results between species reported and BLAST analysis. Thirty-four species were identified, with the most frequent wildlife being waterbuck (31.5%), warthog (13.7%), and black rat (5.9%). These data reveal a public health risk for bushmeat consumers in northern Uganda as they cannot assess species-related risk when purchasing bushmeat and take appropriate precautions against zoonotic pathogen exposure. These data also provide insight into regional hunter prey preference and market preference of local community members which may inform conservation strategy in the region.