Can a legal game meat trade in Tanzania lead to reduced poaching? Perceptions of stakeholders in the wildlife industry
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier GmbH
Abstract
This paper evaluates stakeholders’ perceptions about authorisation of the game meat trade as a solution to
poaching in Tanzania. It respectively uses a variant of “Likert’s method of summated ratings” and the “cumu-
lative ordinal regression model” to analyse and compare the opinions of government officials and non-state
stakeholders about the performance of the recent regulatory framework governing game meat trade in the
country. The results support the assertion that the authorisation of the game meat trade can be one of the boldest
conservation tools to mitigate poaching if well-planned and regulated. The results of cumulative ordinal
regression model suggest that a unit improvement in the procedures for the application and registration of game
meat selling facilities is likely to improve the performance of the regulatory framework in the country by about
42%. This result was statistically significant at a p-value of 0.010, which corresponds to a 99% confidence level.
We recommend leveraging stakeholders’ active engagement and strengthening cooperation between game meat
value chain actors and law-enforcement authorities. An innovative participatory model for enforcing game meat
sanitary and safety regulations is also recommended to avoid potential health risks to consumers. We underscore
the importance of institutional capacity building, awareness creation, and adequate funding in the fight against
poaching and bushmeat trade.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Game meat trade, Regulatory framework, Likert’s method of summated ratings, Poaching, Hunting legislations