Beneath the canopy - traditional knowledge and wildlife hunting in the Colombian Amazon

Unsustainable hunting causes tropical biodiversity loss, affects people’s food provision and leads to the decline of seed dispersing animals in tropical forests which in turn affects ecosystem functions and carbon storage, even in intact forests.This project analyzes the interactions between formal and informal institutions on hunting practices and the ecological and social implications in the Colombian Amazon region.

We start with an interdisciplinary literature review on the role, extent and current sustainability of hunting for forest fauna.

We conduct field research in two study sites to study 1) formal and informal forest governance institutions, norms and traditional ecological knowledges that determine hunting of forest fauna; 2) the implications of hunting for livelihoods and availability of other forest products, biodiversity, and the ability of tropical forests to store carbon; 3) the extent to which traditional ecological knowledge can be leveraged in forest governance across multiple levels to support long-term sustainable resources use in tropical forests?We apply a social-ecological systems framework, use role playing games, hunter-based assessments of population densities, and participatory methods to study patterns and social and ecological effects of hunting.

This research is critical for policy dialogues and decision-making for climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security that depends on ecosystem functioning for food security.