Abstract

Trophy hunting is one of the contemporary institutions for conserving large fauna. It has been established with varying levels of success in terms of wildlife conservation and community development. Established in 1998, trophy hunting economy exists in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Pakistan. Every year, three hunts are carried out for a hefty fee, each on average bringing US$3642000 to the local communities from 1998 to 2021 revealed by Wild Department KP. While this has been discussed at the scholarly, huge economic stakes involved in trophy hunting make it the subject of political influence and rent-seeking, and tragedy of the commons. The situation demands a thorough institutional analysis of trophy hunting. Mix method Research strategy has been used in this study. Further this study has been looked through the lens of Socio Ecological system framework developed by Elinor Ostrom for sustainable management of natural resource system. The thematic analysis is used to evaluate the qualitative data. However, ANOVA test is run to know the variation in opinions of the communities living in the protected areas about trophy hunting. The results show that trophy hunting has positive impact on the population of the Markhor species. Whereas, the study reveals that trophy hunting has a minimal impact on the livelihood of local communities. Furthermore, study recommends that the economic impact can be maximized through eliminations of rent seeking and by structurally empowering local communities to increase benefits from trophy hunting.