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Wild meat is critical for the food security and income of millions of people, especially for poor rural households. Its role as a primary source of macronutrients worldwide has been recognized, but there have been few attempts to evaluate the contribution of bushmeat consumption to micronutrient intake. This is so particularly in the context of nutritional transitions induced by modernization and globalization. Here, we calculated the role of bushmeat as a source of micronutrients in the diets of urban and periurban inhabitants within the Tres Fronteras (Peru, Brazil, Colombia) region in the Amazon. We gathered food intake data from 35 households using 3-day 24-h food recalls combined with food weighing. Additionally, we interviewed 105 households on food consumption frequency. Our results indicate that 14.3% of the households consumed bushmeat, which represented approximately 32% of their caloric intake, 72% of consumed protein, and 77% of iron. Typically, households consuming bushmeat presented higher a nutritional status, i.e., lower intake of carbohydrates (-10%) and higher intake of proteins (+46%), iron (+151%), and zinc (+23%), than households not consuming bushmeat. Most of the sampled households did not achieve standard nutritional requirements for calories (94%), fiber, vitamin C, or iron (97%) per adult per day. None of the households achieved the recommended daily intake for calcium. Households consuming bushmeat consumed statistically significantly higher levels of iron, zinc, and vitamin C than households that did not eat bushmeat. The latter consumed an excess of 31% calories from processed foods per adult per day, and lower amounts of iron (-60%) and zinc (-19%). We argue that households not consuming bushmeat are at greater risk of anemia in the short run and other chronic health problems in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bushmeat consumption persists in urban areas in the Neotropics, yet knowledge of its scale and the relative importance of cultural and economic factors in determining consumption and preference remain elusive. Moreover, the roles of cultural beliefs, social norms, and attitudes in driving urban bushmeat consumption are rarely evaluated. Therefore, we explored in this article the factors that influence consumption and preference for bushmeat in Amazonian towns. Given the availability of other sources of animal protein and the cultural and social importance of bushmeat in the region, we hypothesized that cultural attributes should be better predictors than economic factors of bushmeat consumption and preference. Data analysis involved fitting two-level mixed-effects regressions (random intercepts) to a structured sample of 227 individuals (99 households) from four towns in the Brazilian (Tabatinga and Atalaia do Norte) and Colombian (Leticia and Puerto Nariño) Amazon. The results indicate that a third of the interviewees had consumed bushmeat in the past month, which had primarily been harvested by the family or received as a gift rather than obtained through trade. In general, both economic and cultural factors predicted bushmeat consumption and preference, but the objective proxy for culture, individual origin, was unimportant. Among the tested indicators, the strongest predictor was the importance of bushmeat to social relations. Moreover, informal social norms, such as the greater importance attributed to taboos, tended to decrease the average number of wild species that a person would eat, whereas attitudes toward the illegality of hunting were less important. The two economic indicators, increased income and wealth, tended to decrease preference for bushmeat and the likelihood of consumption. Our findings highlight the importance of human beliefs, attitudes, and social norms to the understanding of bushmeat consumption and preference and may contribute to the design of more effective and locally appropriate conservation and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have intended to quantify urban consumption and trade in Amazonian towns. However, little is still known about the different ways in which bushmeat is made available in urban areas, including commercial and noncommercial flows, and how those flows contribute to link forests to urban livelihoods. In this study we qualitatively describe the structure and functioning of bushmeat flows in terms of species, catchment area, stakeholders involved, and the motivations for their activity in the main towns of the Amazon trifrontier region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. We show that bushmeat trade to urban areas exists under an organized but invisible commodity chain providing a source of income to about 195 persons. Bushmeat is made available either directly from the hunter to the urban consumer, at the main market place, or in food stalls and restaurants. On the Colombian border, the trade is totally invisible, whereas in Peru and Brazil, bushmeat is sold in open markets despite regulations. The catchment area comprises the main rivers: up to Caballococha along the Amazon River, along the Atacuary River in Peru, along the Javari River between Peru and Brazil, and along the Loretoyacu and Amacayacu rivers in Colombia and in periurban forests. Although the trade is rather localized (no commercial flows to larger towns), international transborder trade is commonplace, disregarding Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora regulations. Bushmeat clients in urban areas are mainly nonindigenous or mestizos who can afford bushmeat as a luxury meal. Instead, indigenous people in urban areas do not access bushmeat through the market but rather through their social networks with whom they maintain noncommercial flows including immediate exchange and long-term exchange mechanisms. Although bushmeat is no longer consumed as a daily meal among urban and periurban indigenous families, it constitutes what could be called a "festival food," referring to the use of food to express cultural values and origin. These results highlight the need to differentiate bushmeat trade and noncommercial flows of bushmeat in law enforcement activities. Indeed, although bushmeat trade is banned in all three countries, subsistence use is allowed. Bushmeat consumption contributes to urban subsistence when it is obtained as a gift, and this pattern is increasingly characteristic among mobile and multisited indigenous households in urban Amazon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a synthesis of what regional scientific research networks in less developed regions of the world can do and why they might be relevant for societal decisions and practice. We do so through a focus on three regional science network initiatives that aim to enhance understanding of the multiscalar dynamics of global environmental change (GEC) regionally and globally, namely the Southern Africa Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000), the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change (IAI). With a view to aiding future efforts at regional research network formation, we assess whether and how these three networks enhanced regional science, and the extent to which they sought and managed to bridge the science-policy gap that challenges GEC science as a whole. Identifying key decisions and attributes bearing on their successes, the analysis attends specifically to how the three networks sought to build capacity, how differences and similarities between them affected their level of autonomy from governments, and how this and other factors influenced their functioning and achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]