Samenvatting
Wildlife in developing regions faces an accelerating suite of human-induced threats that are structurally distinct from
those documented in industrialised nations, including subsistence and commercial bushmeat hunting, unregulated
small-scale mining, agricultural frontier expansion, live wildlife trade, and zoonotic disease spillover amplified by
human-wildlife interface density. This study quantifies the relative importance and spatial distribution of five threat
categories across three biodiversity-rich developing regions -- West Africa (Ghana, Cameroon), South and Southeast
Asia (Cambodia, Myanmar), and Amazonian South America (Peru, Bolivia) -- using camera trap surveys (n = 312
stations, 84,621 trap-nights), community interview-based threat perception surveys (n = 1,847 households), NDVI-based
deforestation rate analysis, and TRAFFIC wildlife trade seizure data (2018-2023). Deforestation rate was the strongest
predictor of large mammal occupancy decline across all three regions (mean beta = -0.68 +- 0.09 per 10% forest cover
loss; GLMM p < 0.001). Bushmeat hunting pressure index was negatively correlated with medium and large mammal
camera trap rates (r = -0.74, p < 0.001) and showed no significant trend improvement over the five-year study period in
West Africa or Southeast Asia. Live wildlife trade seizure data revealed that reptiles and passerine birds constituted
64.8% of confiscated individuals across all three regions. Community surveys identified poverty and lack of livelihood
alternatives as the primary drivers of hunting and forest clearing, with 78.4% of households reporting willingness to adopt
alternative livelihoods if economically viable options were available. These findings provide a comparative baseline for
designing integrated conservation and development interventions aligned with IUCN Category VI protected area
management and CITES implementation frameworks.