Community’s knowledge of the effects of illegal hunting and trade in Western Nyerere National Park Tanzania
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Date
2024
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Illegal bushmeat hunting is now a prominent problem in many
regions of the world owing to the ecological, socioeconomic, and
human health repercussions. In regions of Africa, particularly
Tanzania, illicit bush-meat hunting and trading is responsible for a
substantial drop in wildlife populations, a loss of government
revenue, and employment opportunities, all of which cost
conservation and expose people to zoonotic diseases. Despite the
threats posed by illegal hunting activities, the phenomena are
prevalent among individuals of the groups investigated. This calls
our attention to assessing community understanding of illicit hunting
activities and its consequences to conservation and public health.
Specifically, this study aimed to (i) assess the knowledge of
communities on the impacts of illegal bushmeat hunting and trade;
(ii) assess the knowledge of communities on the potential health
risks associated with handling and or consumption of wildlife
products; and (iii) identify key species hunted for bushmeat and
determine the spatial and temporal pattern of bushmeat hunting and
trade. We employed key informant interviews and household
surveys in eight (8) villages adjacent to the western part of Nyerere
National Park. Generalized linear model (GLM) with Binomial error
distribution was used to analyse the data. According to our results, a
majority of local inhabitants recognise the impacts of illegal hunting,
with around 84% realising that unregulated hunting may diminish
wild species and negatively impact their socioeconomic livelihoods.
More than half of the locals were unaware of the potential health
risks associated with consuming and handling wildlife products. Our
research also indicated that illegal hunting is more common during
the rainy season than dry season. We found that, the spatial network
of illegal bushmeat varies from origin site to destinations. Amongst
the common hunted species, Hippopotamus (61%), Buffalo (56%)
and Hartebeest (52%) are more vulnerable to illegal hunting. This
study established the knowledge of the local communities towards
the impacts of bushmeat hunting which is essential in developing effective conservation and public health education programs.
Nonetheless, our study emphasizes on specific and general anti-
poaching strategies in curbing the illegal hunting in areas adjacent to
protected areas.
Description
Dissertation
Keywords
Communitys, knowledgE, effects, illegal, hunting, trade, western, Nyerere, national park, Tanzania