Hunting provides a valuable case study in the use of biodiversity because it involves tens of millions of people globally, it is conducted across a wide range of land tenure and use systems, and it is an important source of revenue and protein, particularly in developing countries. Hunting is also embedded in social structures and cultural patterns and plays a key role in conflicts over natural resource management around the world. HUSA is part of an EU-FP7 funded project undertaken by a multidisciplinary consortium of partners with the aim of assessing cultural, institutional, socio-economic and ecological aspects of hunting across a range of contexts in Europe and Africa.