Cortni Borgerson

1 INTRODUCTION Approximately one-third of the global population relies substantially on forests and forest products for timber, fuelwood, food, and medicine (FAO and UNEP, 2020). Forest-adjacent communities tend to rely most directly on forest resources for their livelihoods (FAO and UNEP, 2020; Newton et al., 2016) and often experience extreme poverty, especially in developing countries (Sunderlin et al., 2008).

1 Introduction Each year, hundreds of species are added to the world's growing list of wildlife threatened with extinction (IUCN 2024a). While humans have flourished, two-thirds of our closest primate relatives are in danger of extinction—including lemurs, the most threatened group of vertebrates on earth (IUCN 2024b).

1 INTRODUCTION Across marine and terrestrial ecosystems alike, the unsustainable capture and consumption of wild animals jeopardizes both ecological resilience and human livelihoods (Barrett et al., 2011; Sunderlin et al., 2005). It is estimated that three-fifths (62%) of wild animal species are experiencing population declines, with over 15% facing local extinctions (Morton et al., 2021). Terrestrial wildlife populations have experienced a 70% decline across the last 50 years (Lambertini, 2020).