What has Globalization to do with Wildlife Use in the Remote Amazon? Exploring the Links between Macroeconomic Changes, Markets and Community Entitlements

Abstract

This article explores to what extent poverty, markets and entitlements act as incentives or deterrents for more intensive use of wildlife. Taking into consideration neoliberal ‘Fuji-shock’ of 1990 that eliminated subsidies and support for small-scale agriculture in Peru, I use data on wildlife use in two communities in Loreto that have different entitlements to natural resources and different access to markets and landforms. Results show the community with better entitlements and access to markets makes more intensive use of wildlife and forest products, which challenges the easy association between poverty and resource degradation, and the need to consider access to markets. In a context of low and volatile prices for agriculture and vulnerable livelihoods, extraction of wildlife and forest resources has become more intensive and includes protected wildlife species. Analysis suggests the strong environmental implications of neoliberal globalization at the micro level and the need to frame wildlife use in the context of adaptive livelihoods and macroeconomic changes.