ForHunt Logging

Ongoing

Since Redford’s ‘Empty Forest’ early warning about defaunation consequences on tropical forests, many studies focused exclusively on ecological part of the complex interaction between game species, forests and human activities. Most of these studies uncovered altered ecosystems functions linked to declining animal populations, and thus conclude to improve fauna conservation. However, this conservation goal which includes interactions between industrial sectors generating hunting facilitation and hunter rationality in dispersal have received much less attention.

We propose in this project ‘ForHunt Logging’, to estimate the spatial distribution of hunting impact over the north of French Guiana in interaction with forest planification in these areas. At the interface of animal ecology, bayesian statistics and microeconomics, we will develop a bioeconomic model integrating species population dynamics in interaction with hunters’ behaviors. Moreover, we will conduct a deeper assessment of hunters’ dispersal analysis based on GPS tracking devices equipped on volunteers. To provide a general framework, we will approximate hunters’ dispersal problem as a ‘portfolio’ of game species spatially optimized. This microeconomic formulation allows us to calibrate an agent-based model of hunters’ dispersal at regional scale according to a set of (1) game species population dynamics parameters and (2) the hunters’ optimization program between transportation or foraging and its parameters (game species utilities, hunting or transportation costs).

The results of this project will give fresh knowledges in fauna conservation adapted to forest logging planification, as well as defaunation state maps which are essential to control in tropical forest studies. The local integration will be a prediction of prioritized areas to enforce the new French Guiana hunting law due to sudden changes in accessibility.

Funded by Labex CEBA - Annual Call 2021