Market access and wild meat consumption in the central Amazon, Brazil

摘要

Wild meat is an important source of food and income for people across the tropics, but overhunting is driving species declines. Comprehension of the interrelated factors that influence wild meat consumption is needed to help address this important issue. A central hypothesis is that market access in the tropics drives consumption. We tested this hypothesis by comparing households with high (living in a town) and low (living in rural areas) market access in the central Amazon. When comparing households in rural communities only, we used travel frequency to town and boat traffic as proxies for market access. To determine interrelationships, we assessed other factors that may influence meat consumption, such as occupation, wealth, and number of people in households. As predicted, town residents consumed more domesticated meat and less wild meat than rural residents. Among rural communities, travel frequency was negatively, and boat traffic was positively, associated with wild meat consumption. Occupation was an important predictor of consumption, with farmers (occupation more common in rural areas) consuming more wild meat than people with other occupations. Number of people in the household was negatively associated with beef consumption. Wealth was associated with wild meat and beef consumption but its effect on consumption was negligible (effect size near zero). When comparing urban and rural residents, we detected a strong relationship between market access and wild meat consumption, but this was influenced by the diversity of livelihood options available to town versus rural residents. Among rural residents, we detected a relationship between market access and wild meat consumption, but this relationship depended on the nature of the market access (household travel frequency to town versus boat traffic at rural communities). Our findings suggest that greater access to market may lead to a decrease in wild meat consumption at the household level. Key factors we did not address, however, require further research in rural communities; namely whether reduced consumption leads to overall reduction in hunting or merely a shift from consumption to trade.