Using mixed methods to understand sensitive wildlife poisoning behaviours in northern Cambodia
E MIE L D E LANGE,
E.J.MILNE R-GULLAND,VICHET YIM CHANTHE AV Y L ENG,S ITHAN PHANN and AIDAN KEA NE
Abstract In northern Cambodia, threatened wildlife, live- stock and people are being poisoned by pesticides deposited in seasonal waterholes. Addressing this critical conservation threat requires understanding the drivers of poisoning be- haviours and the social contexts in which they occur. This study across 10 communities in two protected areas aimed to provide a first assessment of this phenomenon. We used the theory of planned behaviour to measure socio-psy- chological determinants of behaviour and deepened this understanding using informant interviews and focus group discussions. Informants reported that so-called termite poi- sons, including powerful carbamates, are deliberately de- posited at waterholes to catch wildlife for consumption. This method is perceived to be low effort and high efficacy, and perceptions of the health risks vary. Predominant users are young men and children, but it is unclear whether the prac- tice is related to food insecurity. Threatened wildlife species reported as affected include the giant ibis Pseudibis gigantea and vulture species. Overall, social norms are strongly nega- tive towards poisoning; 75%of survey respondents perceived negative norms because of impacts on human and livestock health, environmental quality, and risks of legal sanctions. This has led to interventions by local authorities in half of the studied villages. We suggest that future interventions should raise the salience of negative norms by providing a non-conflictual mechanism for community members to participate in monitoring and sanctioning, such as a report- ing hotline. Regulatory interventions are also required to control the supply of restricted pesticides.
Keywords Behaviour change, bushmeat, hunting, illegal behaviour, mixed methods, pesticide misuse, theory of planned behaviour, wildlife poisoning
Supplementary material for this article is available at
doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319001492
Introduction
tions (Carson, 1962), and deaths of larger animals (Berny, 2007). Deliberate poisoning of large animals is also wide- spread (Richards, 2011); e.g. in Africa, some farmers use car- bofuran pesticides to kill predators (Ogada, 2014), driving a crash in vulture populations (Buechley & Şekercioğlu, 2016; Ogada et al., 2016). However, the use of agrochemicals for har- vesting wild meat has rarely been documented (e.g. Odino, 2011). In 2015, five seasonal waterholes (trapeangs)inCam-
T EMIEL DE LANGE* (Corresponding author, E. J. MILNER-GULLAND (
orcid.org/0000-0002-5853-3657)
Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, 1 Drummond Street, EH8 9XP, Edinburgh, UK. E-mail
e.delange@
ed.ac.uk
orcid.org/0000-0003-0324-2710) Department of
Zoology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
VICHET YIM Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia CHANTHEAVY LENG† Sansom Mlup Prey, Phnom Penh, Cambodia SITHAN PHANN Wildlife Conservation Society, Phnom Penh, Cambodia AIDAN KEANE (
Edinburgh, UK
*Also at: Department of Zoology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK †Also at: Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Received 19 November 2019. Revision requested 9 December 2019. Accepted 17 December 2019. First published online 29 October 2020.
bodia’s Preah Vihear province were found to contain car- bofuran. Threatened wildlife species found dead included Critically Endangered vultures, and people fell ill after drinking contaminated water (Plate 1;Wildlife Conservation Society, 2016; Loveridge et al., 2019). Although reports of suspected wildlife poisonings in Cambodia are common, in- cluding 51 suspected vulture poisonings during 2004–2015 (Loveridge et al., 2019), these were the first records of poi- soned waterholes with toxicological confirmation. Because of the potentially critical threat to human health and popu- lations of threatened wildlife, conservation groups took immediate action based on assumptions about poisoning, including awareness-raising meetings in local communities, and producing educational media (Loveridge et al., 2019). To inform intervention design, this study aims to provide a broad assessment of waterhole poisoning in Preah Vihear province: identifying the actors involved, understanding their motivations and describing the social context in which poisoning occurs. Cambodia has been described as a dumping ground for
orcid.org/0000-0002-9704-5576) University of Edinburgh,
unwanted pesticides because of weak regulation of imports (imports increased 17-fold during 2002–2012; Matsukawa et al., 2016) and sale (EJF, 2002). For example, although Cambodia is signatory to international conventions re- stricting carbofuran use, this pesticide remains widely used (Rotterdam Convention, 2013; Matsukawa et al., 2016).
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oryx, 2021, 55(6), 889–902 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001492
oxic agrochemicals are a major threat to wildlife, lead- ing to widespread declines in insect and bird popula-
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