The Other Food Crisis

Conservationists have long argued that the hunting of terrestrial wildlife for food - including mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians - poses a threat to the survival of many tropical forest species and ecosystems. A new study suggests we should be equally concerned that the so-called “bushmeat crisis” is also a food security crisis for many forest-dependent people.

“Conservation and Use of Wildlife-Based Resources: The Bushmeat Crisis”,a technical paper published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and CIFOR, summarizes the state of knowledge on this controversial topic. According to Nasi et al, the bushmeat trade constitutes a significant, if largely hidden, component of the economies of tropical forest countries, with estimates ranging from US$42-205 million per year for countries in West and Central Africa. However, “voluminous and varied” empirical evidence suggests that current rates of bushmeat extraction are unsustainable, and are leading to wildlife depletion in many areas. Large mammal species are particularly vulnerable, and many are already locally extinct.

The “empty forest syndrome” is not just of interest to conservationists. Bushmeat is an important source of protein and fats in rural diets - up to 80 percent in Central Africa - as well as an important seasonal safety net. And in many countries, there is no clear substitute available if wild meat sources were to be depleted, or off-take reduced to sustainable levels.

Bushmeat’s importance to rural livelihoods is not restricted to its direct consumption. Research suggests that the poorest households are more dependent than the sales to local and urban markets. Thus, the conventional wisdom that commercial trade can be banned without harming the subsistence needs of the poor is misguided.

The report suggests that sustainable management of bushmeat resources requires different approaches for different species and circumstances. For example, species with low intrinsic population growth rates and high dependence on undisturbed habitat - such as gorillas - are particularly vulnerable to overhunting. By contrast, fast reproducing generalist species that thrive in agricultural mosaics - such as duikers or rodents - may be very resilient to hunting pressure. Blanket bans on hunting and trade that don’t discriminate between these extremes are bound to fail.

The authors argue that the solution to the bushmeat crisis is a more secure rights regime: if local people are guaranteed the benefits of sustainable land use and hunting practices, they will be willing to invest in sound management and negotiate selective hunting regimes. Sustainable management of bushmeat resources requires bringing the sector out into the open, removing the stigma of illegality, and including wild meat consumption in national statistics and planning.

Reframing the bushmeat problem from one of international animal welfare to one of sustainable livelihoods - and part of the global food crisis - might be a good place to start.

For more details click here to go to download the report.

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Kenya welcomes donation of INTERPOL plane to boost fight against wildlife crime

08 July 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - INTERPOL has formally donated a plane to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to help boost the country’s anti-poaching and wildlife law enforcement efforts.

Welcoming the handover of the Super Cub plane at a recent ceremony at Wilson Airfield in Nairobi, Kenya’s Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Noak Wekesa, KWS Director Julius Kipng’etich and Chief of the KWS Air wing Solomon Nyanjui, underlined that protecting Kenya’s diverse plant and animal species was not just an ethical or heritage issue, but also a practical one, with 12 per cent of the country’s GDP originating from tourists going on safari and visiting its national parks.

The Super Cub plane, bought second-hand and refurbished for the KWS, is ideal for surveillance, since it can fly as slowly as five miles per hour, and fly for six hours on one tank of fuel.

Click here to read the full article

Iregi Mwenja

Technorati : East Africa, Mwenja, bushmeat, kenya, poaching

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Another article on disease outbreak from DRC. “The disease reappeared because people here regularly eat monkeys and squirrels, which are reservoirs for the virus, and above all because smallpox vaccinations stopped”. Bushmeat is again the culprit here!

 Iregi Mwenja

KINSHASA, 1 July 2008 (IRIN) - An outbreak of monkey pox in Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Equateur province has killed 22 of the 470 people infected since the start of 2008, according to medical officials.“The epidemic began in the Tshuapa health zone and has reached almost all parts of the province,” said August Makaya, the chief epidemiologist in Equateur. “Cases of monkey pox have been registered all over Tshuapa health zone but also in Befale and Mopono health zones and more recently in Ingende health zone, near Mbandaka [the main town in the province],” he said.

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