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Bushmeat hunting is especially important for poor rural people, who
suffer most when hunted species decline or disappear. And that is precisely
what is happening in many areas.
‘If current levels of hunting persist in Central Africa, bushmeat
supplies will fall dramatically, and a significant number of forest mammals
will become extinct in less than 50 years,’ says CIFOR scientist Robert Nasi,
one of the co-authors of the report.
This, in turn, will lead to greater hardship and higher levels of
malnutrition among forest dwellers who rely on bushmeat, either to sell or
to eat. This is one of the reasons why the 191 parties to the CBD took the
decision, at a meeting in May 2008, to address the bushmeat crisis as a
priority issue in future deliberations.
A variety of factors—including the growing population in rural areas, an
increase in demand for bushmeat in towns, the introduction of more efficient
weaponry and a lack of recognised user rights—is contributing to
unsustainable levels of hunting. The species most at threat are large
mammals with low rates of population growth, such as gorillas, chimpanzees
and elephants. Fast-breeding species that can survive in a range of habitats
are generally more resilient to hunting. These include small antelopes and
rodents such as the grasscutter, which are often seen for sale along African
roadsides.
Many conservation agencies have suggested that the bushmeat crisis should
be tackled by dietary reform on the one hand, and better law enforcement on
the other. But both proposed solutions have serious drawbacks. According to
Nasi, satisfying local demand for protein by replacing bushmeat hunting with
livestock farming would be counterproductive.
‘The current bushmeat harvest in West and Central Africa is around 1
million tonnes a year, equivalent to 4 million head of cattle,’ he says.
‘Where would you raise them? You’d have to clear huge areas of natural
forest.’
The CBD report also suggests that blanket bans on hunting, when applied
outside protected areas, seldom work.
‘What we need is a new approach with a strong focus on poverty
alleviation and development, and better governance of wildlife resources,’
says Tim Christophersen of the CBD Secretariat. The report suggests that
governments in range states—countries in which these mammals live—need to
acknowledge the important role bushmeat plays in their local economies. This
will involve removing the stigma of illegality and including wild meat
consumption in national statistics and planning. The report also makes a
strong argument in favour of giving local people the right to manage
wildlife populations and harvest species that are more resilient to hunting.
‘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,’ says Frances Seymour, CIFOR’s Director
General.
To some conservationists, this is a red rag to a bull. Richard Leakey, a
famous African conservationist, declared on his blog that he was
‘incredulous’ that CIFOR was suggesting bushmeat hunting be legalised.
‘This position shows remarkable na�vet� and totally fails to understand
the realities on the ground,’ he wrote.
Leakey implied that if the report’s recommendations were put into
practice, they could lead to the hunting of rare animals like the Cross
River gorilla. However, the CBD report explicitly states that only common,
fast-breeding species should be hunted. See
http://richardleakey.wildlifedirect.org/2008/09/19/legalizing-bushmeat-hunting-will-not-solve-the-food-crisis/;
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926744.100-should-we-legalise-hunting-of-endangered-species.html;
http://magblog.audubon.org/node/149.
Christophersen believes that one of the strengths of the report comes
from its diverse parentage.
‘In many ways, it was a very tough process as we brought together
scientists from organisations which had different approaches to the
problem,’ he says. In the past, environmental NGOs like the Wildlife
Conservation Society had taken a traditional conservationist stance, with a
strong focus on protecting wildlife and repressing the trade in bushmeat.
The Overseas Development Institute, in contrast, had always argued that the
bushmeat crisis was a governance and livelihoods crisis as well as a crisis
for wildlife. The final report reached a consensus: traditional blanket bans
on hunting seldom work; giving local people the right to manage wildlife is
probably the best way forward.
‘We are not saying that it’s ever going to be easy to manage bushmeat
hunting in countries where there are low levels of governance and high
levels of poverty,’ says Brown. ‘It will be difficult, but it is the best
way forward.’
At the very least, says Brown, the CBD report has helped to stimulate
debate and provided a developing country perspective of the bushmeat
crisis—something that most analyses have failed to do in the past. |
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