The drivers of wild meat consumption in rural Cameroon: Insights for wild meat alternative project design

Projects providing alternative foods to wild meat in rural areas are commonplace across West and Central Africa to try and curb unsustainable hunting, regarded as a major concern for conservation and local food security. However, there lacks locally specific research on the preferences and drivers of wild meat consumption in rural areas-essential information for guiding such interventions. We carry out semi-structured interviews with 542 people in four rural villages around the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon, to understand the importance of wild meat, explore people's food choices, identify the drivers of wild meat consumption, and explore variation in the drivers and barriers to eating wild meat and its alternatives. We found that wild meat is preferred to meat from domestic livestock or wild caught fish. Many of the most commonly preferred wild meat species (porcupine and blue duiker) are relatively abundant, with the exception of pangolin which is globally endangered but which people reportedly prefer because of its good taste. Good taste, perceived health benefits, and easy accessibility are the key drivers of consumption, while taboos, an off-putting appearance, and health concerns play a strong role in species avoidance, particularly for great apes and large ungulates. Village-level differences in the drivers of consumption were observed, possibly influenced by their proximity to the reserve, to markets, participation in alternatives projects, and to law enforcement. That people in rural Cameroon care about health and taste in their choices, rather than simply availability or cost, challenges the assumptions that underpin many alternative meat projects. Our findings provide an understanding of consumer drivers to help to guide wild meat alternative interventions in rural areas. We urge wild meat alternatives designers to account for the heterogeneity of preferences and drivers within communities, to help ensure that projects reach both their conservation and social objectives.