Should African governments pull bushmeat trade out the shadows in the Congo Basin?

ATBC Meeting, 20-24July 2014, Cairns, Australia.

Daniel Cornélis(1), Nathalie van Vliet(2), Sébastien Le Bel(1)

Robert Nasi(2), Alain Billand(1)

(1) Cirad – Agricultural Research Center for Development

(2) Cifor - Center for International Forestry Research

Introduction

Congo basin tropical forest block

- covers around 2 million sq. km. - straddles over 6 countries - hotspot of biodiversity

Introduction

Congo basin population

- Around 100 000 inhabitants- Main protein source : hunting

Introduction

Increasing human impacts

- Logging- Road network expansion- Subsistence to commercial hunting

Bushmeat crisis in Central Africa !!!

www.bushmeat.net

From “bushmeat” to “bush meats” recognition

Strictly protected Partially protected UnprotectedSpecies protection status (Gabon) :

Strictly protected Partially protected UnprotectedSpecies protection status (Gabon) :

From “bushmeat” to “bush meats” recognition

Urban consumption represents only 6% of the overall consumption of bushmeat

X =

Estimates of bushmeat consumption in the Congo Basin : 4 million tons / year

Nasi, Taber & Van Vliet (2011) Empty forests, empty stomachs?

Po

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Time T

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Population size N

Unsustainability remains a hypothesis for common species

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

0.5 K

Carrying capacity (K)

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e N

Time T

Pro

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Population size N

$2100 per kgon the black market

in Beijing, Chinaby craftsmen or factory owners

(Save The Elephants,2014)

Unsustainability remains a hypothesis for common species

Po

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e N

Time T

Pro

du

ctio

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Population size N

Economic threshold

Unsustainability remains a hypothesis for common species

?

?

What are the options ?

250,000 km2

Potential alternatives to hunting ?

- Livestock breeding- Livestock importation- Mini-livestock

? ?

• There is a need to break this “ideological straitjacket” according to which man is inherently bad for nature, particularly in Africa.

• Hunt for food is a basic right, and the sale is a legally supervised practice worldwide

Shifting the Paradigm ...

5 good reasons to legalize bushmeat trade of resilient species in village territories:

• Food security (protein source)

• Important source of income in rural areas

• Informal activities are shortfalls for communities and Governments (tax revenues)

• A legal production system is simpler to follow in terms of public health (zoonoses).

• Organizing community-based hunting of common species paves the way for the

implementation of practices favorable to the conservation of endangered species

Shifting the Paradigm ...

• Test new commercial approaches on common and resilient species• in village hunting territories

• In forest concessions

• Adapt the legal framework (currently inadequate and subject to interpretation):• Inadequate (Open periods, game species, hunting methods, etc.).

• Subject to interpretation (eg not easy distinction between subsistence hunting and commercial hunting)

Way(s) forward ?

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the U.N. Secretariathttp://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm

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Central Africa - Human population prospects

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Expected and unexpected trends

Thank you for your attention!