Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
Illegal hunters in Africa may be making rational decisions about the hunting activities they partake in. These decisions could be linked to their socioeconomic status and the livelihood opportunities available to them. In particular, poverty is widely considered the leading driver that causes a hous...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Conservation & Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2017;volume=15;issue=1;spage=24;epage=32;aulast=Knapp |
| _version_ | 1818265254161809408 |
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| author | Eli J Knapp Nathan Peace Lauren Bechtel |
| author_facet | Eli J Knapp Nathan Peace Lauren Bechtel |
| author_sort | Eli J Knapp |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Illegal hunters in Africa may be making rational decisions about the hunting activities they partake in. These decisions could be linked to their socioeconomic status and the livelihood opportunities available to them. In particular, poverty is widely considered the leading driver that causes a household's inhabitants to take up poaching in protected areas. Programs aiming to protect vulnerable wildlife populations by mitigating poaching have historically relied upon income-based poverty metrics in efforts to reduce regional poverty and incentivise local inhabitants to discontinue poaching activities. Because such data sets that deal with poachers directly are rare, assumptions about the role of poverty, and the extent of poverty, that drives poaching have been hard to test. This study uses a unique sample of 173 self-admitted poachers living in villages adjacent to Ruaha National Park in Tanzania to explore the influence of poverty on poaching. Results indicated high demographic and household economy heterogeneity among poaching households. Capability deprivation examined more subjective measures of poverty and revealed that poachers are strongly motivated by the need to improve their incomes, but are not necessarily the poorest of the poor. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T19:47:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-079be43602644856b3bb72fb4e139b9e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0972-4923 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T19:47:53Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Conservation & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-079be43602644856b3bb72fb4e139b9e2022-12-22T00:14:03ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsConservation & Society0972-49232017-01-01151243210.4103/0972-4923.201393Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, TanzaniaEli J KnappNathan PeaceLauren BechtelIllegal hunters in Africa may be making rational decisions about the hunting activities they partake in. These decisions could be linked to their socioeconomic status and the livelihood opportunities available to them. In particular, poverty is widely considered the leading driver that causes a household's inhabitants to take up poaching in protected areas. Programs aiming to protect vulnerable wildlife populations by mitigating poaching have historically relied upon income-based poverty metrics in efforts to reduce regional poverty and incentivise local inhabitants to discontinue poaching activities. Because such data sets that deal with poachers directly are rare, assumptions about the role of poverty, and the extent of poverty, that drives poaching have been hard to test. This study uses a unique sample of 173 self-admitted poachers living in villages adjacent to Ruaha National Park in Tanzania to explore the influence of poverty on poaching. Results indicated high demographic and household economy heterogeneity among poaching households. Capability deprivation examined more subjective measures of poverty and revealed that poachers are strongly motivated by the need to improve their incomes, but are not necessarily the poorest of the poor.http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2017;volume=15;issue=1;spage=24;epage=32;aulast=KnappPoachingillegal wildlife harvestinghousehold economiescapability deprivationpoverty |
| spellingShingle | Eli J Knapp Nathan Peace Lauren Bechtel Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania Conservation & Society Poaching illegal wildlife harvesting household economies capability deprivation poverty |
| title | Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania |
| title_full | Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania |
| title_fullStr | Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania |
| title_full_unstemmed | Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania |
| title_short | Poachers and Poverty: Assessing Objective and Subjective Measures of Poverty among Illegal Hunters Outside Ruaha National Park, Tanzania |
| title_sort | poachers and poverty assessing objective and subjective measures of poverty among illegal hunters outside ruaha national park tanzania |
| topic | Poaching illegal wildlife harvesting household economies capability deprivation poverty |
| url | http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2017;volume=15;issue=1;spage=24;epage=32;aulast=Knapp |
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