Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
●
Bushmeat was a necessity good overall, so that the amount eaten increased less
than proportionately with income. In the highest income group, bushmeat
consumption decreased with income (it was an inferior good). However, none
of the elasticities were statistically significant, suggesting that the evidence for
an effect of income on consumption was weak.
●
Fish consumption was strongly affected by its price in the higher income
group, and more weakly related to price in the lower income group. This
ability to reduce consumption when price increased suggests that there were
plenty of other meats that people could switch to if the price increased.
Bushmeat was not sold in the villages so the price could not be estimated.
●
Similarly, high chicken and pig prices led to increased fish consumption,
suggesting they were substitute goods. Bushmeat consumption did not vary
with prices of other meats.
The study's
conclusions
were that changes in income and prices would affect the
consumption of fish and bushmeat. The fact that fish was an inferior good is
interesting, as it suggests that improving people's incomes would act to reduce pressure
on fish stocks. This may also be true for bushmeat, but the results were inconclusive.
Future directions
: There have been very few studies of the economics of con-
sumption of wild resources, and this paper represents one of the very few estimates
of demand elasticities so far published for wildlife. The policy implications of
elasticities are important, so there is much further work to be done on this topic.
There is also the interesting issue of how these effects differ between cultures and
with differences in market access.
3.3.2.4 Bushmeat consumption and preferences on Bioko Island
A complementary approach to studying actual purchase and consumption behav-
iour is to ask people about their food preferences. These preferences can then be
related to consumption patterns. The role of preferences can be investigated as one
factor determining consumption, together with the availability of the product and
its price. This is important, because preferences can be powerful drivers of con-
sumption, even if the product is rarely available or expensive, in which case market
data cannot reveal these preferences fully. For example, if a particular species is
preferred for cultural reasons, then this might lead to continued hunting even if it
is very scarce. Alternatively, cultural preferences could be harnessed, with consumers
backing conservation as a way to ensure that special foods remain available into the
future. This approach has been used in Ghana by the NGO Conservation
International, who recruited tribal chiefs to endorse a campaign promoting bush-
meat as a part of the country's cultural heritage that is in danger of disappearing
(Milner-Gulland
et al
. 2003).
Fa
et al
. (2002) carried out a survey of 196 people on the island of Bioko
(Equatorial Guinea), with the aim of quantifying the consumption and prefer-
ences of the island's two main ethnic groups. The Bubi are the island's indigenous
ethnic group, while the more politically powerful Fang come from the mainland,
where there is a wider diversity of bushmeat species available.
