Copyright © 2015 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Van Vliet, N., M. P. Quiceno, D. Cruz, L. J. Neves de Aquino, B. Yagüe, T. Schor, S. Hernandez, and R. Nasi. 2015. Bushmeat networks link the forest to urban areas in the trifrontier region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Ecology and Society 20(3): 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07782-200321 Research, part of a Special Feature on Why does hunting in tropical regions matter? Bushmeat networks link the forest to urban areas in the trifrontier region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru Nathalie van Vliet 1 , Maria Paula Quiceno 2 , Daniel Cruz 2 , Lindon Jonhson Neves de Aquino 3 , Blanca Yagüe 4 , Tatiana Schor 5,6 , Sara Hernandez 7 and Robert Nasi 1 ABSTRACT. Recent studies have intended to quantify urban consumption and trade in Amazonian towns. However, little is still known about the different ways in which bushmeat is made available in urban areas, including commercial and noncommercial flows, and how those flows contribute to link forests to urban livelihoods. In this study we qualitatively describe the structure and functioning of bushmeat flows in terms of species, catchment area, stakeholders involved, and the motivations for their activity in the main towns of the Amazon trifrontier region between Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. We show that bushmeat trade to urban areas exists under an organized but invisible commodity chain providing a source of income to about 195 persons. Bushmeat is made available either directly from the hunter to the urban consumer, at the main market place, or in food stalls and restaurants. On the Colombian border, the trade is totally invisible, whereas in Peru and Brazil, bushmeat is sold in open markets despite regulations. The catchment area comprises the main rivers: up to Caballococha along the Amazon River, along the Atacuary River in Peru, along the Javari River between Peru and Brazil, and along the Loretoyacu and Amacayacu rivers in Colombia and in periurban forests. Although the trade is rather localized (no commercial flows to larger towns), international transborder trade is commonplace, disregarding Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora regulations. Bushmeat clients in urban areas are mainly nonindigenous or mestizos who can afford bushmeat as a luxury meal. Instead, indigenous people in urban areas do not access bushmeat through the market but rather through their social networks with whom they maintain noncommercial flows including immediate exchange and long-term exchange mechanisms. Although bushmeat is no longer consumed as a daily meal among urban and periurban indigenous families, it constitutes what could be called a “festival food,” referring to the use of food to express cultural values and origin. These results highlight the need to differentiate bushmeat trade and noncommercial flows of bushmeat in law enforcement activities. Indeed, although bushmeat trade is banned in all three countries, subsistence use is allowed. Bushmeat consumption contributes to urban subsistence when it is obtained as a gift, and this pattern is increasingly characteristic among mobile and multisited indigenous households in urban Amazon. Key Words: Amazon; bushmeat; exchange networks; indigenous people; trade; urban areas INTRODUCTION Nowadays, more than 70% of the Brazilian Amazon’s population lives in cities (IBGE 2010), and urbanization has recently emerged as a driving force of transformation in forested areas far from frontiers in the Amazon (Guedes et al. 2009, Nasuti et al. 2015). Regional and international economies and better access to transportation and information have driven migration between rural and urban areas (Alexiades 2009, Pinedo-Vasquez and Padoch 2009). Many households have also migrated to the city or settled near urban areas for educational and health services (Parry et al. 2010). Inevitably, the contact with urban lifestyles leads to increased dependency on goods and services (Peluso and Alexiades 2005) and comes along with the adoption and incorporation of urban cultural models (Mainbourg et al. 2002). However, these cultural transitions do not necessarily lead to the total demise of rural links, because migrating groups often maintain a link to the forest through rural-urban networks (Eloy et al. 2014). Mobility and increasing interactions with urban areas extend rural social networks to incorporate local towns and regional cities, strengthening indigenous social capital (Bernal and Mainbourg 2009). These multisited households often continue their economic activities in rural areas while depending on income from urban activities. Recent studies on forest resources use (Eloy and Lasmar 2012) and fishing (Sobreiro 2015) demonstrate how growing interdependency between rural and urban spaces represents both an opportunity and a challenge for natural resources management and rural livelihoods, strengthening indigenous governance but also challenging current models for natural resources management based on permanent rural residence. In this study we focus on bushmeat use, traditionally well rooted in rural lifestyles, to illustrate the persistence of forests in urban livelihoods through commercial and noncommercial networks. Bushmeat is defined as wild animals, including mammals, amphibians, insects, reptiles, and birds but excluding fish or aquatic molluscs, hunted or harvested in tropical and subtropical countries for food (CBD 2011). Despite the rapid social and economic transformations that push rural livelihoods away from the dependency on forest products (Nardoto et al. 2011, Sills et al. 2011), bushmeat in rural communities of the Amazon remains an important component of household food security and income, not necessarily in terms of quantities, but as a key element in diet, income diversification, and social and cultural roles (Ojasti 2000, Bodmer and Lozano 2001, Bodmer et al. 2004, Sirén 2012). The numerous studies available on bushmeat in the Amazon have focused on understanding bushmeat use and sustainability in rural contexts (Bodmer et al. 1997, Fragoso et al. 2000, Hill et al. 2003, Silvius et al. 2004, Sirén et al. 2004, Damania et al. 2005, Levi et al. 2009). However, sustainability hinges on the feedbacks and balances between social and ecological systems (Ostrom 2007), and studies should incorporate the emerging social dynamics that influence bushmeat use. 1 Center for International Forestry Research, 2 Fundación Science International, 3 Universidade Federal do Amazonas, 4 Independent consultant, 5 Geography Department, Federal University of Amazonas, 6 NEPECAB, 7 Independent Expert in Environmental Economics