Study: Amazonian Wildlife Feeds Millions

Across the vast Amazon rainforest, people have hunted a wide array of animals — mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians — for millennia. Yet until recently, there has been little comprehensive understanding of the scale of this offtake, or what it means for both local people and the ecosystems they inhabit.

A landmark new study published in Nature marks “the first large-scale effort to map wild meat hunting across the entire Amazon,” according to Hani Rocha El Bizri, study author and lead coordinator of the Sustainable Use of Wild Species Transformative Partnership Platform (SU-TPP).

The work provides fresh evidence of the critical relationship between healthy forests and healthy people. “This study confirms that wild meat is not only a vital source of protein and micronutrients — it is the backbone of food security for millions of Amazonian residents,” said lead author André Antunes. “Protecting forests means protecting nutrition, livelihoods and cultural heritage.”