How uneven access shapes the socio‐economic and environmental potential of game meat value chains: The case of legal game meat in Zambia

Abstract Game meat contributes to human nutrition, food security and sociocultural practices around the world. Game meat also comes with risks, including overharvesting and zoonotic and food‐borne disease. These may be pronounced where game meat travels along complex value chains from rural to urban areas. Formalising and improving regulation of the game meat value chain is one approach to mitigating risks. Focussing on the game meat value chain in Zambia, this study conducted semi‐structured interviews with government and other regulatory industry actors ( n = 9); game ranchers ( n = 31), the largest producers of legal game meat locally; licensed resident hunters ( n = 20); retailers selling game meat ( n = 25); and retailers not selling game meat ( n = 15). Zambia is supporting the regulation of the game meat sector to respond to existing demand and reduce illegal hunting, mitigate public health risks and support wider socio‐economic development. Our study sought to understand how the sector has changed, which actors are involved in what value chain activities, and barriers to participating in and benefiting from the value chain. Drawing from political ecology, our analysis was informed by the concept of access, which describes the ability to benefit from things, including land, resources and the institutions and regulations that govern these. Because access is interconnected to wider social and power relations, centring access offers further insights into who has access to what game meat value chain activities, why and what the potential implications are for biodiversity conservation, socio‐economic development and public health. Despite recent improvements in the game meat sector, access to the value chain remains uneven, with existing ranches benefiting most and populations likely to benefit from game meat for food security, nutrition and other subsistence purposes facing the greatest barriers. There also continues to be significant unmet demand for game meat, raising concerns about illegal hunting and public health risks. Policy implications suggest a need to further develop frameworks to strengthen the position of communities and customary institutions in the legal game meat value chain, as this is where riskier forms of hunting and game meat consumption might occur in response to unmet demand. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.