Le gibier, la forêt et les chasseurs à la lumière des régimes institutionnels (essai)

Game, hunters and the forest seen in the perspective of the institutional framework (essay) Game and the forest are both natural resources. They interact through ecosystem services rendered by the forest (service supplier) to wildlife (service beneficiary). This service to the game resource influences other, more direct, forest services (e.g. wood, recreation, non-wood products),which benefit from the regulation of the game by the hunter. The action of hunting, in its turn, hinders the supply of other wildlife linked services, notably economic and symbolic (hunters), scientific (zoologists), artistic (painters) etc. cultural, even linked to identity (nature lovers, members of religious groups). This leads to rivalries between the two resources and to the putting in place of institutional frameworks to solve this conflict. This is the approach we use to discuss the three hunting regimes in place in Switzerland (concessions, licences, prohibition).