Ecological, Socio-Cultural Interdisciplinary Approach in the Study of Hunting and Wildlife Trade in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

Wildlife trade is increasingly seen as a threat to the instability of wildlife populations. However, environmental studies cannot completely solve the problem when a complex socio-economic or cultural context stimulates wildlife trade in many parts of the world, especially in the three countries of Indochina. Environmental studies, coupled with socio-cultural studies, are necessary to understand the complexity of the demand for and trade in wild animals in order to determine sustainable management strategies. Interdisciplinary research refers to research that combines more than one academic field, research that combines methods and approaches to fill gaps and provide a more complete understanding of the main drivers of wildlife trade, including consumer needs, management models, the state of the studied wildlife populations and the availability of these populations. This article also focuses on analyzing how these factors interact at different scales, how trade patterns relate to the ethics and effectiveness of various measures to reduce wildlife trade. The author suggests priorities for future research on wildlife trade, which include the transition from multidisciplinary to interdisciplinary research issues and approaches, integrating various disciplines such as cultural anthropology, ecology, economics and public policy. The study also examines the limitations of collecting information on disciplines to meet these priorities.