The impacts and drivers of bushmeat hunting in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Illegal bushmeat hunting is a global threat to wildlife, but its secretive and unregulated nature undermines efforts to mitigate its impacts on wildlife and wildlife-based industries. We investigated the impacts and... [ view full abstract ]

Illegal bushmeat hunting is a global threat to wildlife, but its secretive and unregulated nature undermines efforts to mitigate its impacts on wildlife and wildlife-based industries. We investigated the impacts and drivers of illegal bushmeat hunting in the Okavango Delta, Botswana (~20,000 km²) to assess its potential contribution to wildlife population declines and to identify mitigation strategies. We conducted interviews with bushmeat hunters and heads of rural households about hunting activities, rural livelihoods, attitudes towards wildlife, and market characteristics of illegal bushmeat. Approximately 1,800 illegal hunters each harvest an average of 320 kg of bushmeat annually, though some reported harvesting ≥1,000 kg. Hunters remove ~620,000 kg of medium-large herbivore biomass (equivalent to 15,500 impala) per annum and constitute the fourth most prominent predator in the delta. Cumulative harvest by humans and other predators likely exceeds the intrinsic population growth rate of several species of ungulates in the delta, and helps explain purported declines in ungulate populations. Generalized linear models to predict whether households hunt bushmeat suggest that hunter households are located closer to wildlife, more likely to farm crops, more likely to be formally employed, and own more livestock than non-hunter households. Most households (84.3) incur costs from living with wildlife. Whether households incur costs, however was not related to whether those households hunt. We conclude that bushmeat consumption is a supplemental source of food and income for most households and is rarely essential for subsistence. We propose two broadly different but mutually important interventions to counter the negative impacts of illegal hunting on the region’s lucrative wildlife-based economy: a) more effective law enforcement with penalties sufficient to confer costs for bushmeat hunting, and b) development of alternative legitimate wildlife-based revenue streams that engage communities directly in wildlife management and conservation.