Posted
on 19 October 2009 - Cambridge, UK - New
analytical techniques have revealed that
the scale of bushmeat trade in Central Africa
may be much larger than originally thought,
according to a study published today by
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
The study, based on
an analysis of food balance sheets provided
by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s
statistical database FAOSTAT, strongly supports
the view that the current situation surrounding
bushmeat hunting in Central African rainforests
is precarious. According to the analysis,
bushmeat extraction rose considerably in
the Congo Basin between 11000 and 2005,
despite the overall decrease in forest cover
in Central Africa.
Cameroon appears to
be exceeding—by more than 100%—an estimated
sustainable offtake of 150 kg of game meat
per square kilometre of forest, and Gabon
and the Republic of Congo are both close
to this limit. The greatest rise in bushmeat
production was in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, where the yield rose from 78,000
tonnes in 11000 to 90,000 tonnes in 2005.
In the Republic of Congo, production almost
doubled, from 11,000 to 20,000 tonnes per
year in the same time period.
“While the FAOSTAT bushmeat
data are probably underestimates and should
be regarded with caution, the data are the
most readily available official sources
of information on production of wild meat
in the Congo Basin and are valuable indicators
of bushmeat production and consumption trends,”
says Stefan Ziegler, Programme Officer with
WWF Germany, and author of the report.
Wildlife is a significant
and direct source of protein for more than
34 million people living in the Congo Basin
and bushmeat hunting is a key component
of many peoples’ livelihoods in Central
Africa.
Earlier studies have
demonstrated that bushmeat extraction increases
with human population growth. However, the
latest study finds that bushmeat consumption
increases significantly with personal wealth
too.
“Bushmeat consumption
is higher in countries with large urban
populations, and the increasing urbanization
in the Congo region is likely to place even
greater pressure on wild animal populations
there,” says Ziegler,
“The danger is unsustainable
offtake of wild game will lead to a collapse
in wild animal populations and widespread
human hunger in the region,” says Ziegler.
Unsustainable harvest
levels are widely believed to be the most
immediate threat to the region’s forest
mammals.
“Local people have hunted
for centuries, for food and for barter,
but the last 20 years have seen the emergence
of a commercial bushmeat market due to rural
people being increasingly drawn into the
cash economy,” says Nathalie van Vliet,
TRAFFIC Bushmeat Strategic Advisor.
“The impacts of subsistence
hunting was previously balanced by the fact
of the hunting was done on a rotation basis
on alternate tracts of forest areas. However,
shifts in human population dynamics and
socio-economic factors are leading to rising,
and increasingly unsustainable demands on
wild animal populations.”
An earlier WCS study
found that offtake by commercial hunters
in south-eastern Cameroon was ten times
more per immigrant hunter than for local
subsistence hunters.
“What is clear is that
management strategies to prevent over-harvesting
need to be implemented and measures put
in place to provide alternative sources
of protein for the inhabitants of the region.”
However, the study also
indicated that the development of animal
husbandry may not be an ideal solution to
provide substitute protein for game meat.
The study, Application
of food balance sheets to assess the scale
of the bushmeat trade in Central Africa,
was launched today at the Convention on
Biological Diversity’s Bushmeat Liaison
Group Meeting, currently taking place in
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Further to the results
of the study, TRAFFIC is encouraging countries
in Central Africa to enhance enforcement
efforts and establish concrete law enforcement
mechanisms targeted at curbing commercial
bushmeat poaching. “Central African countries
can cooperate in addressing this growing
problem through the development of a regional
enforcement plan and creating the political
will to combat commercial bushmeat poaching
in regional fora such as the upcoming Yaounde
+10 Summit." says Germain Ngandjui,
TRAFFIC's representative in Central Africa.
