Kana Koichi

Project: Socio-economic and ecological costs and benefits of feral pigs in the Wet Tropics

An invasive animal, feral pig (Sus scrofa), is perceived as an environmental and agricultural ‘pest’ in the Wet Tropics due to the perceived damage to the conservation values of the rainforest and agricultural commodities. In the meanwhile, there may be positive aspects to pigs, especially for recreational hunters and Indigenous communities. Thus, the status of the animal as a ‘pest’ is ambiguous and arbitrary, and is influenced by people’s perspectives and economic opportunities as well as by the ecology of species.

This research will assess the scope and scale of costs and benefits from both ecological and socio-economic perspectives. Additionally, it will explore the cost of pig management of various control strategies that have been applied to mitigate the perceived negative ecological and economic impacts.

Cost-effectiveness is the ultimate economic evaluation of any damage control practice, because control refers to a cost (e.g. expenditure on pig control) that must be balanced by a benefit (e.g. mitigating the costs of pigs). A detailed assessment of the socio-economic and ecological costs and benefits of feral pigs will allow a clear understanding of the benefits and costs of pig control so that undesirable impacts of control management will be identified.