Bush Meat in Kenya

The global financial crisis is adversely affecting every sector, including wildlife, a traditional source of food security in Africa. In times of hardship like drought, socio-economic and political turmoil, people have turned to wildlife as their source of food because other food sources become inaccessible. The current global financial crisis is not different. Companies are retrenching their staff as they grapple with the economic downturn. Without income to provide the basic necessities for their families, these retrenched workers turn to wildlife – most countries in Africa don’t have good policies that give clear ownership rights to communities living with wildlife. A such, wildlife is seen as a free-for-all resource that benefits only those who “use” it first. Hardly do people turn to their neighbor’s livestock for food security as there are clear laws guiding the livestock sector.

By the time you read this post, this two sparring male gazelle in Taita, Kenya might be turned into food or income as the poor grapple with the hard economic times arising from the global finacial crisis.

The situation in logging concessions in Cameroun clearly depict the situation in Africa. Due to the global financial crisis, the logging companies are now retrenching their workers and …………. “Poaching is intensifying …….. especially as the global financial crisis has affected logging companies, which are now retrenching most of their workers. The spiral of unemployment so created has led the jobless to turn to poaching as an alternative,” Click to read the artcicle here

Iregi Mwenja

Technorati : “food security”, BEAN, Bushmeat, Conservation, Poaching, hunting