Participatory Monitoring and Management of Subsistence Hunting in the Piagacu-Purus Reserve, Brazil

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) model in Brazil provides legal context for monitoring wildlife with the involvement of local populations in gathering data and developing strategies for sustainable use. We present results of one year of self monitoring by hunters in five communities within the RDS-PP, discuss how the observed patterns reflect local hunting regulations, and suggest how this information could be incorporated into a formal management system. In addition to the offtake data, we interviewed hunters, inquiring about informal community hunting norms and agreements, and analysed the content of 19 rules in the reserve's management plan. 509 hunting events were recorded by 37 of the 104 families present (35%). Self monitoring permitted the evaluation of temporal and spatial fluctuations of hunting activities, notably regarding ease of canoe transport during the high-water season. Though communities have been apprehensive about developing regulations for subsistence hunting, one of the communities had developed a set of formal rules. Hunting for commercial sale to outsiders and restrictions on external hunters are concerns shared by the local population and the reserve management agencies. Such data and understanding are crucial to the management of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon, where governance is often limited.