Methods and Techniques for Research on the Supply Chains of Biodiversity Products

Abstract

A “supply chain” comprises the set of transactions needed to produce a good or service, including the path from production to the end user. In ethnoecological and ethnobiological studies, the focus on supply chains allows a wider contextualization of the socioeconomic importance of biodiversity products. This wider context includes the agents outside the local communities and allows a more thorough analysis of the factors that influence the commercial use of native species by local populations. In this chapter, we discuss the primary methods and techniques used to study the supply chains of biodiversity products.