Systematic review of sustainability assessment approaches for wildlife exploitation: Uncovering limitations in tackling the bushmeat crisis

Wildlife exploitation constitutes an important socio-economical and nutritional resource to many communities worldwide. Yet, wildlife exploitation -whether legal or illegal- may be conducted at an unsustainable rate, notably with the globalization of the socio-economical context in the tropics. Our systematic review provides an update on the approaches employed to evaluate wildlife exploitation sustainability in fisheries, recreational hunting and bushmeat harvesting, while critically assessing their relevance to the ongoing bushmeat crisis in Africa. From an initial pool of 2803 documents retrieved from Web of Science using Boolean search, 125 peer-reviewed articles covering 66 countries across five continents were selected for analysis. A total of 15 index- and model-based approaches were used to study wildlife exploitation, with fisheries being the most investigated, driving the overall predominance of model-based approaches. GLM analysis showed that wildlife exploitation assessment outcomes were significantly influenced by species' reproductive strategy (positive effect for r-strategists) and type of exploitation (negative effect for fisheries). Bushmeat exploitation has been studied –mostly in South America– through a mixture of index- and model-based approaches, with a series of important methodological limitations related to species-specific traits, spatio-temporal dynamics of hunting areas, model parameter assessment and hunting offtake calculations. In tropical Africa, research has primarily focused on two genera of mammals (duikers and guenons), not reflecting the wide spectrum of species targeted. We conclude that a multifaceted approach integrating societal involvement, long-term monitoring for data collection, and the full adoption of advanced wildlife survey technologies is needed, in conjunction with long-term policies prioritizing the bushmeat issue. • We reviewed 125 studies on global wildlife exploitation across 66 countries. • Fisheries dominate research, mainly using model-based sustainability approaches. • Species traits and exploitation type significantly impact assessment outcomes. • Bushmeat studies face key data and modeling limitations, especially in Africa. • We call for integrated, tech-supported, and community-based bushmeat policies.