Understanding unauthorised hunting for effective conservation interventions

Interventions to deter unauthorised hunting tend to favour national parks over less strictly protected game reserves. A more effective approach, however, would be to base interventions on a better understanding of the underlying factors driving unauthorised hunting. Katavi National Park and Ugalla Game Reserve, Tanzania, sit within the same landscape. They both face the challenge of controlling unauthorised hunting, but differ in their protection status. Using focus group discussions, an indirect questioning technique, and household surveys, we determined levels of unauthorised wild meat hunting and consumption, the wildlife species preferred, and factors influencing participation in or deterrence from hunting. The findings suggest a wide range of wildlife species is used for wild meat, best estimates ranging from 17 % of households in villages along the main roads around Ugalla hunting for food over the last 12 months, to 47 % of households in trading centres around Katavi buying wild meat for consumption. Consumption was most common among people from larger households. The primary objective of hunting was to generate income, and the wild meat trade largely operated in local black markets. Factors leading to unauthorised hunting included a lack of conservation awareness, economic hardship, and limited alternative income sources. Conservation education, positive relationships between communities and protected areas, law enforcement, community engagement, and affordable game meat were commonly reported factors that could mitigate against unauthorised hunting. Our findings can inform more focussed and effective interventions to address unauthorised hunting by people living both close to and further away from protected areas.