Prices, poaching, and protein alternatives: An analysis of bushmeat consumption around Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

•We use an Almost Ideal Demand system to model protein demand in Tanzania.•Changing bushmeat prices will decrease bushmeat consumption more effectively than changing prices of protein alternatives.•Increasing income increases bushmeat consumption as well as consumption of other meat sources.•If surrounding fisheries experience a negative shock this will lead to a dramatic increase in bushmeat consumption.

The consumption of meat from wild animals (or bushmeat) occurs throughout Africa and highlights the conflict between two distinct development goals: food security and biodiversity conservation. Growing human populations throughout the greater Serengeti ecosystem rely heavily on bushmeat as a source of protein, which places pressure on migratory wildlife populations. This paper uses unique data from protein consumption surveys from 131 households over 34 months in a generalizable empirical framework to estimate price, cross-price, and expenditure elasticities of protein sources, and analyze the potential economic effects of policies to mitigate bushmeat hunting and consumption. Results suggest that: (1) directly increasing the price of bushmeat through enforcement or other policies to reduce supply will have the most direct and largest effect of bushmeat consumption; (2) increasing income increases bushmeat consumption as well as consumption of other meat sources; (3) if surrounding fisheries experience a negative shock, or collapse, this will lead to a dramatic increase in bushmeat consumption. Overall, these results strongly indicate that policies to reduce bushmeat hunting while maintaining food security must be considered in a broad and comprehensive framework.