Shadia Ibrahim Kilwanila
This project aims to investigate the scale of the illegal bird bushmeat consumption and trade, their socio-economic factors drivers and population status of the traded species to improve their conservation. These aims will be achieved through conducting ecological and socio-economic surveys to gather appropriate data for each project objective.
Illegal bird trade for bushmeat is a growing conservation problem for many bird species including lovebirds in Tanzania. However, information on the scale of the trade, its socio-economic drivers and impact on the population of harvested bird species remains unknown, risking species decline without our knowledge. This project aims to bridge these knowledge gaps. We will use available standard conservation methods to collect new data and to build local capacity to effectively address this conservation problem in the Mkungunero-Swagaswaga ecosystem in north central Tanzania. These data will used for updating the IUCN red lists for the target species.