Title
Towards wildlife management in tropical forests
Date Issued
01 January 1999
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Robinson J.
University of Florida
Abstract
Hunting is ubiquitous in tropical forests around the world, and meat from wildlife species is an important source of animal protein for rural populations. Ungulates, primates, and rodents provide most of the biomass consumed, but a wide variety of wildlife species are hunted for both subsistence and commerce. Across the tropics, tens of millions of animals and millions of metric tons of meat are hunted and consumed each year. Is this harvest sustainable? Available information and the use or simple sustainability models suggest it is not. The supply of wildlife is limited, as annual production of large mammals in tropical forests is low when compared to other ecosystems. The demand is increasing as tropical forests become more accessible to hunters, effective human population densities increase, people become more sedentary, traditional hunting practices change, the meat trade becomes more commercial, and demand increases for wild meat from urban centers. If wildlife populations are to be sustained, then management institutions, be they government or community-based, need to be strengthened.
Start page
1
End page
13
Volume
63
Issue
1
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de las plantas, Botánica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0032966152
Source
Journal of Wildlife Management
Resource of which it is part
Journal of Wildlife Management
ISSN of the container
0022541X
DOI of the container
10.2307/3802482
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus