Understanding the geography of wildlife use in the face of urbanization

This research examines the links between food security and the access and usage of natural resources, particularly wildlife. This study focuses especially on regions that are undergoing processes of urbanization, which has been cited as the cause of increasingly inequitable access to resources and, by extension, food insecurity. In this project, the researchers use survey methods in a broad sample of communities to examine the extent to which social and economic factors can help people to gain access to wildlife and mitigate food insecurity. Owing to the sensitivity of the research questions, the study also advances new survey methods for eliciting reliable reports of sensitive behaviors. The project also contributes to the training of undergraduate and undergraduate students. With a focus on access and use of natural resources in urban and peri-urban areas, this project complements previous geographical studies of natural resource use in rural areas. By sampling across a number of communities along the rural-urban gradient, the researchers account for the extent to which proximity to wildlife resources interacts with social and economic determinants of access and usage and the resulting impacts on food insecurity. This research contributes to the interdisciplinary field of political ecology. Analyses of collated secondary data provide complementary insights into the geography of wildlife consumption as a function of proximity to protected areas, urbanization, and economic development, among other spatial variables. Insights from this work are shared with conservation organizations and disseminated to other local partners. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.