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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.

Most bushmeat studies in the Amazon region focus on hunting patterns of indigenous populations in rural settings. Our study describes the existence of urban hunters in medium-sized towns. Using a variety of data collection methods, we describe the main socioeconomic characteristics of urban hunters in Benjamin Constant and Atalaia do Norte, Brazil. We analyze the patterns and motivations of urban hunters as well as the type of prey harvested and quantities traded. All interviewed hunters are caboclos, people of mixed Brazilian indigenous and European origins from rural areas who now live in urban and peri-urban areas. Living in these more populated spaces allows these hunters better market options for their harvest and allows them to alternate hunting with other economic activities. Only 29% of the interviewed hunters relied solely on hunting. In total, 11.6 tons of bushmeat were harvested (of which 97% was traded) by four hunters during the monitoring period (60 days). The most hunted species were terecay (Podocnemis unifilis), curassow (Crax sp.), paca (Cuniculus paca), and tapir (Tapirus terrestris). The ratio of bushmeat sold to that consumed, as well as the level of participation in the bushmeat market chain, allowed us to differentiate between specialized and diversified hunters. Specialized hunters sell 81% of the bushmeat caught to known wholesalers in the city. Diversified hunters sell 21% of their total catch to families, neighbors, or friends directly as fresh meat, avoiding intermediaries. For all hunters, hunting localities are associated with peri-urban roadways that are easily reached by motorbike or bicycle from the hunters' houses in the urban areas or city fringes. Our results show that urban hunters in medium-sized towns exemplify how traditional hunting systems can be adapted in the face of globalization, by living close to the market, at relatively manageable distances from hunting grounds, and using modern methods of transportation and communication to bypass law enforcement.

The Importance of bushmeat trade in Amazonian towns has been very little studied, either because it is thought to be insignificant or due to the context of illegality. Based on preliminary field work to identify the main stakeholders involved and the existing trade routes, our study aimed at describing the invisible bushmeat trade using a participatory monitoring protocol in Leticia and Puerto Narino in Colombia, Tabatinga, Benjamin Constant and Atalaia do Norte in Brazil, and Santa Rosa and Caballococha in Peru. The monitoring system included two key levels of the market chain: hunters and market traders. With the support of our research team, the hunters and traders self monitored their activities during 60 days and 20 days respectively during two hydro-climatic periods. Our study shows that the most hunted species are paca, tericaya turtle and currassows while the most commercialized species are paca, tapir, collared peccary and the red brocket deer. We registered a total of 13 tons of bushmeat captured by hunters (from 29 species) and 6.7 tons of bushmeat sold by market sellers (from 19 species). We extrapolated this data to a year and to the total numbers of stakeholders involved in the trade and found that 473 tons of bushmeat are traded per year in market places from the main Tri frontier towns, which taken to the total urban population size of the area, equals to 3.2 kg/hab/year, a number that is comparable to those found in Central African urban settings.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-23T15:38:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 R_F_A-135-2013_revisado.pdf: 782534 bytes, checksum: fec869cc579eb85b945c7e49a337cc6c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-31 Voluntário A presente proposta pretende analisar a Tríade da dieta alimentar em área urbana no interior do estado do Amazonas. O município de Benjamin Constant está localizado na Mesorregião do Alto Solimões Alto Solimões, fronteira tríplice Brasil, Peru e Colômbia. O método a ser utilizado é o Estudo de Caso que possibilita a análise de problemas complexos, para isso utiliza múltiplas técnicas de pesquisa, permite análise quantitativa. A presente pesquisa será do tipo descritiva-explicativa. Como instrumentos de coleta de dados serão utilizadas o diário de campo, observação direta, entrevista semiestruturada e reunião com cada família. Os sujeitos sociais da pesquisa serão os moradores da área urbana do município de Benjamin Constant, AM, que independerão de sexo, cor, raça, crença e estado civil, porém devem morar, obrigatoriamente, na sede do município se disponibilizarem a participar espontaneamente da pesquisa.