SCIENCE@home

Hunting motivations, behaviour and forest access: Characterising wildlife hunting practices in a multi‐ethnic, forested landscape of Brunei Darussalam, Southeast Asia

Natasha L. M. Mannion,Rachel Gaulton,M. Jamil,M. Pfeifer,J. W. F. Slik,Stephen G. Willis,F. Franco

Published 2025 in People and Nature

ABSTRACT

Unsustainable hunting practices can alter population dynamics, driving biodiversity declines, which leads to ‘empty forests’. Understanding hunting behaviour, including motivations for hunting and relationships with market drivers, and access to hunting grounds are important to develop affirmative policies to stem biodiversity loss. Here, we investigate community hunting behaviour and motivations in the context of road network expansion. We focus on the Temburong District, Brunei Darussalam, which retains large tracts of undegraded rainforests. Cultural hunting has a long history in the region, which few studies have investigated. In 2022, following preliminary research that suggested widespread hunting across Brunei's forests, we conducted household surveys (n = 32) and in‐depth interviews (n = 3) with Temburong residents from multiple ethnic backgrounds to characterise hunting behaviours. We contextualised these surveys and interviews within the recently completed construction of Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Bridge, which we expected would increase human mobility and thus hunting access. Applying a thematic analysis, we characterised hunting in Temburong. Hunting motivations varied greatly, but the primary motivation for hunting was non‐market wild meat consumption, with target species including bearded pig, muntjac and mousedeer, which were primarily snare caught. Hunting had a high level of cultural importance in the region. While hunting is still present in the region, its cultural importance appears to be waning. Our data also present perceptions that the SOAS Bridge may be facilitating access to Temburong's forests for novel hunters, potentially increasing hunting pressure. Policy implications. In Southeast Asia, narratives around hunting often centre on overexploitation and trade. We show that in Brunei, hunting has cultural importance, particularly among Indigenous communities, requiring more careful planning for mitigation strategies aiming to conserve biodiversity to avoid marginalisation of vulnerable communities. Road network expansion may attract new and distant hunters, while complex factors linked to generational changes may reduce hunting pressure in Brunei's forests. Our research thus highlights that local, context‐specific research is required for effective decision‐making surrounding both hunting and development. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-26 of 26 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY