Wildlife, a forgotten resource of agroforestry and shifting cultivation landscapes
Wildlife, a forgotten resource of agroforestry and shifting cultivation landscapes
wca2014-LA-036 R. Nasi1,* 1 Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Jalan CIFOR, Situ Gede, Sindang Barang, Bogor 16680, IndonesiaAgroforests and swidden cultivation areas are not empty of wildlife. They are generally inhabited by a suite of adaptable, fast-reproducing species able to withstand human activity, often rodents, small-sized, fast-reproducing and resilient to hunting. These species are not of immediate concern to conservation biologists and do not attract tourists. They however do have an important role in the food security and nutrition of farmers by being both pests, raiding and destroying crops and a source of nutrient rich meat. This “garden hunting” is a very common activity as wild animals enter swiddens and fallows because of the relative abundance of food sources. Research shows that hunting in farmland is indeed disproportionately more frequent relative to field cover in the landscape but also that offtake from farm lands is much lower than from the fallows and remaining forests. In an idealized scenario, crop losses resulting from the presence of these species could be balanced by protein gains from hunting. We will review and present the actual evidence of the importance of this forgotten resource for the food safety, nutrition and livelihoods of local farmers and propose some management recommendations.