Criteria and indicators of sustainable hunting – the Austrian assessment approach

Concepts and assessment tools for sustainable natural resource management have been developed in, amongst others, forestry, agriculture, fishery and tourism, but not for hunting or wildlife management. We applied a broad participatory stakeholder approach for the development of criteria and indicators of sustainable hunting in Austria. Based on international and national obligations and provisions, the concept is operational by defining ecological, economic and socio-cultural principles, criteria and sub-criteria with indicators and performance scales. The assessment set enables hunters to assess the degree of sustainability of their own individual practice of hunting in a self-reliant way. Its main function is to serve as a decision-supporting and awareness-raising instrument on hunting to identify deficiencies in sustainability, provide guidance for more sustainable future hunting practices and monitor effectiveness of management actions. The concept allows adaptation to specific regional conditions and different national hunting systems and application on regional and supra-regional scales.