Conservation and utilization of wildlife in the Congo Basin: How to tackle the protein gap?
Robert Nasi, Nathalie Van Vliet, Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez
Nutrition and Food Production in the Congo BasinBrussels, 30 September – 1 October 2013
The “Bushmeat Crisis” Empirical evidence
• Historical: hunting-related extinctions (passenger pigeon, American buffalo…)
• Today: local extirpation because of hunting (for food or trade in wildlife parts)
Is “doomsday” coming?• Not sure but there is a clear
sustainability problem Biodiversity but also
livelihoods of local people are at stake
Importance of wildlife
Ecological• Keystone species• Ecological services
Economical• Local livelihoods, food
security• Income generation
Cultural• Social bonding, • Redistribution• Traditional ceremonies, • Taboos
Defaunation• Not restricted only to
environmental or conservation issues
• Livelihoods issues are at least as important
• “Bushmeat hunting” needs to be approached as a socio-ecological system
Ecological aspects Extinction or extirpation of
hunted species Food chain feed–back and
Allee effects Potential pest outbreaks Changes in pollination
patterns Changes in seed predation
/ dispersion patterns Modification of vegetation
dynamics and biomass fluxes
Potential food crisis; malnutrition
Deforestation or forest degradation for alternative sources of protein
Unsustainable harvesting of other wild resources (e.g. fish)
Public health issues Loss of income Loss of cultural identity
Socio-economic aspects
Estimates of the value of the bushmeat trade range from US$42 to US$205 million per year in West-Central Africa. Current harvest in Central Africa
alone may well be in excess of 5 million tons annually, equivalent of over 2 billion chickens or 15 million cows! 30 to 80% of the protein intake
of many rural populations
Bushmeat hunting in Congo Basin
A simplified bushmeat value chain
Hunters
Transporters
RetailersConsumers, rural
Consumers, urban (incl. international)
LA
Resource
Wholesalers
Complex wicked problem, no simple solution or “silver bullet” Driven by many underlying causes similar to the
ones that drive poverty Livelihood issues as important as biological ones Very important gender dimension to be properly
considered Interdiction and enforcement only policies cannot
work in the short or medium term Resource needs to be managed and its use
monitored
Issues at hands
Tackling the protein gap
Solution can only be combinations of various actions at different points of the value chain and of the enabling environment
Actions need to be combined at various levels around three main elements:– Reducing the demand for bushmeat– Making the off-take, supply more sustainable with proper
management of the resource– Creating an conducive and enabling institutional and
policy environment
Reducing demand Hunters, rural
consumers– Develop alternative
sources of protein at a cost similar to bushmeat
– Improve economic opportunities in productive sectors
– Use local media (e.g. radio) to deliver environmental education and raise awareness
Reducing demand Retailers, urban consumers
– Strictly enforcing ban of protected/endangered species sales and consumption
– Confiscating and publicly incinerating carcasses– Taxing sales of authorized species
International consumers– Instituting very heavy fines for possession or trade of
bushmeat (whatever the status or provenance of the species)
– Raising awareness of the issue in airports or seaports– Engaging and making accountable airline or shipping
companies
Improving sustainability of supply
Hunter, rural consumers– Negotiate hunting rules allowing harvesting resilient species and
banning vulnerable ones– Define self-monitored quotas and co-construct simple self-
monitoring tools Research and extension services
– Develop and disseminate simple monitoring methods– Understanding the “empty forest” syndrome:
• Role of source-sink effects in hunting areas• Competition and substitutions effects on forest composition and structure
– Analyze relationships and trade-off between bushmeat and other protein sources
• Bushmeat and freshwater fish consumption• Bushmeat and domestic meat (livestock, poultry…) footprints• Is there a nutritional transition? Where? Into which alternative protein source?
Improving sustainability of supply
Extractive industries– Enforce codes of conducts and
include wildlife concerns in companies’ standard operating procedures
– Forbid transportation on company’s cars or trucks
– Establish manned checkpoints (with trained personnel) on main roads
– Provide alternative sources of protein at cost
– Organize, support community hunting schemes
– Adopt and implement certification
“Enabling” environment
National policy makers and agencies (range states)– Enhancing ownership, linked to tenurial and rights reform– Legitimize the bushmeat debate– Make an economic assessment of the sector and include
in national statistics– Acknowledge contribution of bushmeat to food security in
national strategies– Develop a framework to “formalize” parts of the trade– Review national legislation for coherence, practicality and
to reflect actual practices (without surrendering key conservation concerns)
– Include bushmeat/wildlife modules in curricula
“Enabling” environment International policies
– Strict enforcement of CITES– Ensure wildlife issues are covered within internationally-
supported policy processes– Link international trade with increased emerging disease
risks– Impose tough fines and shame irresponsible behavior
Local institutions– Negotiate full support of communities that have a vested
interest in protecting the resource– Increase capacity to setup and manage sustainable
bushmeat markets– Develop local participatory monitoring tools
Conclusion? No universal solutions exist to solve the problem
of unsustainable bushmeat hunting in tropical forests.
Some principles need to be taken into account in order to achieve the sustainability of bushmeat hunting:– Ensure that research is linked to the practices – Mitigate against the potential for tension between
livelihood and conservation objectives– Analyse both the livelihood and conservation implications
of a given intervention on all stakeholders– Search alternative models from other sectors– Identify the most appropriate entry points – Employ multi-pronged approaches to a complex problem
by involving different stakeholders
Pictures: Nathalie Van Vliet, David
Wilkie, Rober Nasi and CIFOR