Sustaining livelihoods derived from wild harvesting: Evidence from the tropics

Introduction to the study

Evidence from a large-scale global study shows that building livelihoods derived from wild harvesting remains central to the survival and well-being of millions across tropical regions. The research, published by Wells et al. (2024) in One Earth journal, finds that households often rely on wild harvesting alongside other forms of economic development rather than replacing it, and that, when effectively governed, access to wild resources can support both human well-being and sustainable land use.

These findings challenge conservation approaches that treat development and resource use as incompatible and have direct relevance for policies on sustainable use, protected areas, and community-based conservation in tropical landscapes.

What is wild harvesting? 

Wild harvesting, defined as the gathering or collection of wild plants, animals, fungi and other non-timber forest products for subsistence or trade, has long been an integral part of human survival and wildlife economies. 

Currently, wild harvesting is a key source of livelihoods worldwide in low- and middle-income countries. While wild species are used by billions of people (IUCN, 2025), wild harvesting is often frowned upon as a contributing factor to wild species population decline and environmental degradation, and, in some cases, is grouped with illegal trade/activities. 

Demand for wild plant ingredients, particularly for medicinal and oil products, is growing rapidly worldwide. This growing demand, coupled with a worsening biodiversity crisis, puts many wild species and the people who depend on them at risk. Alternative livelihoods (such as farming) are proposed mainly as a key solution to achieving conservation goals and reducing wild harvesting.

In this article, we review a study published by Wells et al. (2024) titled “Hundreds of millions of people in the tropics need both wild harvests and other forms of economic development for their well-being”. We draw lessons from this study and the literature on the status and future of wild harvesting as a livelihood source. 

The role of wild harvesting globally

Drawing from 10,800 households across 24 tropical countries, Wells et al. (2024) reveal that wild harvesting, i.e. the direct collection of food, fuel, fibre, and fodder from natural ecosystems, remains integral to human well-being in the Global South. Similarly, studies by Mukul et al. (2015) and Schumann et al. (2010) found that wild-harvested products, like wood fuel in Bangladesh and baobab products in Burkina Faso, are a key part of rural development and contribute significantly to household income. Globally, billions of people rely on wild species. Estimates suggest that over 50,000 wild species are used for food, medicine, income, and fuel, with approximately one in five people directly depending on these wild products for their food and income. 

Development and sustainable resource use can coexist

Wells et al. also found that households engaging in wild harvesting followed sustainable harvesting practices when they were allowed access to wild resources because their traditional practices were applied/integrated/maintained. Also, the livelihoods earned resulted in improved access to infrastructure such as electricity, roads, and market connections. Findings from the study challenge earlier assumptions that still underlie many conservation interventions and policies, namely that development and the sustainable use of wild resources are inherently incompatible (Oates, 1999). In this regard, Wells et al.'s 2024 study also revealed that wild-harvested products reached developed peri-urban areas and remained an essential contributor to household well-being. This is contrary to the popular narrative that as communities "develop", their dependence and need for natural resources declines. Although poor communities are more likely to rely on wild species (approx. 70%) than their urban counterparts, Wells et al.'s 2024 study supports findings from other recent studies (e.g., Munanura et al., 2018) that urban development and dependence on wild harvesting coexist. This clearly shows that, while direct harvesting is more common in non-urban areas, billions of people worldwide in both rural and urban areas benefit from wild products in some way. These findings question conservation models that assume development must replace traditional resource use to achieve sustainability.

Implications for conservation and sustainable use policy

While access to education, markets, and non-resource income sources all correlated with improved well-being, these factors complemented rather than replaced wild harvesting (Wells et al., 2024). Even households with significant unrelated income continued to rely on wild harvesting for food security and life satisfaction. This offers some food for thought for conservation interventions that promise to ‘compensate’ communities for lost resource access through alternative livelihood programs. The evidence suggests that such alternatives work best as complements rather than replacements for traditional resource use, such as wild harvesting. This necessitates essential considerations for implementing conservation strategies, such as 30x30 and conservation policies for the sustainable use of wild resources. Current protected area models, primarily based on exclusion and strict access controls, ignore the reality that infrastructure development and subsistence resource use can be complementary to conservation-based land uses when managed sustainably, rather than competing in priorities. Restricting access to wild resources while failing to provide alternative economic opportunities (as is often the case) risks degrading livelihoods without meaningful conservation gains.

The critical role of community governance of livelihoods derived from wild harvesting

Wells et al.'s study might shed some light on why some interventions fail to deliver on their social promise. The study found that wild harvesting contributes most to well-being in areas with strong local governance systems or standard pool resource rules. Where communities had established clear, enforceable agreements about who could harvest what and when, both ecological sustainability and human welfare improved. This finding aligns with growing scholarship on the need for community-based natural resource management, supported by evidence that when local communities can effectively govern shared resources, there are positive outcomes for both people and wildlife (Merz et al., 2023). Thus, Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), which offer continued access to wild harvesting, are an essential complement to strict protected areas for meeting 30x30 targets. As also noted by Wells et al., viewing resource access and conservation as zero-sum trade-offs is not a viable option. Policies should aim to create conditions where people and nature can thrive. This requires investing in infrastructure and institutions that enable and support sustainable wild harvesting and value addition. That said, it is still essential to avert the significant risks of overexploitation of wild species, which threaten sustainability, and to recognise that strict protected areas remain essential in highly threatened tropical ecosystems. Therefore, a nuanced conservation approach is needed that integrates human well-being with ecosystem health, rather than treating the two as competing priorities.

Key Takeaways

• Over 50,000 wild species provide food, medicine, income, and fuel to billions of people.
• One in five people earns a livelihood through wild harvesting, particularly in low- and middle-income tropical countries.
• Sustainable practices thrive in communities with clear resource access rights and strong local governance systems – improving both ecological health and human welfare.
• Alternative livelihoods complement, don't replace – conservation interventions that offer alternatives to wild harvesting succeed only when they supplement, rather than replace, traditional resource use. Restricting access without providing economic opportunities degrades livelihoods without conservation gains.
• Urban and peri-urban areas still depend on wild resources – While poor communities show higher reliance (~70%), the urban-rural divide is narrower than conventional narratives suggest.
• Policy must integrate people and nature – Protected area models based on exclusion ignore evidence that sustainable resource use and infrastructure development can complement conservation goals. OECMs (Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures) offering continued harvesting access are essential complements to strict protected areas for meeting 30x30 targets.

An article based on the following paper:

References 

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 2025. Issues brief: Sustainable use of wild species. Gland: IUCN. Available at: https://iucn.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/iucn-issues-brief-sustainable-use-of-wild-species.pdf

(Accessed: 30 September 2025).

Merz, L., Pienaar, E.F., Fik, T., Muyengwa, S. and Child, B., 2023. ‘Wildlife institutions highly salient to human attitudes toward wildlife’, Conservation Science and Practice, 5(2), e12879. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.12879

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Munanura, I.E., Backman, K.F., Hallo, J.C., Powell, R.B. and Sabuhoro, E., 2018. ‘Understanding the relationship between livelihood constraints of poor forest-adjacent residents and illegal forest use at Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda’, Conservation and Society, 16(3), pp. 291–302. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_14_83

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Oates, J.F., 1999. Myth and reality in the rain forest: How conservation strategies are failing in West Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Schumann, K., Wittig, R., Thiombiano, A., Becker, U. and Hahn, K., 2010. ‘Impact of land-use type and bark- and leaf-harvesting on population structure and fruit production of the baobab tree (Adansonia digitata L.) in a semi-arid savanna, West Africa’, Forest Ecology and Management, 260(11), pp. 2035–2044. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2010.09.009

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Wells, G.J., Ryan, C.M., Das, A., Attiwilli, S., Poudyal, M., Lele, S., Schreckenberg, K., Robinson, B.E., Keane, A., Homewood, K.M., Jones, J.P.G., Torres-Vitolas, C.A., Fisher, J.A., Ahmad, S., Mulligan, M., Dawson, T.P., Adams, H., Setty, R.S. and Daw, T.M., 2024. ‘Hundreds of millions of people in the tropics need both wild harvests and other forms of economic development for their well-being’, One Earth, 7(2), pp. 311–324. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.12.001

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