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<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=3>Food or slaughter? Bushmeat fuels wildlife
debate<BR>Tue 16 Sep 2008, By Tansa Musa</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT size=3>YAOUNDE (Reuters) - An acrid stench of burning hair
hangs in the air as a whole monkey roasts over an open fire, a victim of
the trade in tropical "bushmeat" that conservationists agree must be
curbed, though they disagree how to do it.<BR>Around 25 diners sit on
bamboo chairs at this open air restaurant on the outskirts of Cameroon's
capital Yaounde, waiting for a plate of monkey, pangolin or bush pig
washed down with red wine, beer or aromatic freshly tapped palm
wine.<BR>Environmentalists say the hunting and trade of endangered animals
from the world's tropical forests must be reduced if rare primates and
other species are to be saved from extinction.<BR>Some campaigners want a
total ban on bushmeat or at least on its commercial trade. This would
allow local people to hunt only fast-breeding, non-endangered species to
feed their families.<BR>But a report published on Tuesday said such
blanket bans would fail and, if enforced, deprive poor families living in
forest regions of much-needed nutrition and cash earnings.<BR>The report
by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity said legalising parts of the bushmeat trade could dispel the
stigma attached to it, aid regulation and help efforts to save endangered
species.<BR>"Bushmeat, in particular, offers a number of benefits to
forest-dwelling populations. It is an easily traded resource as it is
transportable, has a high value/weight ratio and is easily preserved at
low cost," the report said.<BR>A survey a few years ago estimated 70-90
tonnes of bushmeat a month were being sold in Yaounde's four main markets.
Across West and central Africa, the trade is worth as much as $200
million, and $175 million in Latin America's Amazon basin.<BR>Supporters
of a more general ban say regulating sales of some animals but not others
would be too complicated.<BR>"Hunting and trade that is sustainable for a
cane rat is not necessarily sustainable for an ape," Heather Eves,
director of the Washington-based Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, told
Reuters.<BR>"There isn't sufficient evidence to suggest that there is the
financial or technical capacity or political will to assure a regulated
trade that could effectively assure a sustainable trade of just rats and
not apes," she said.<BR>ANIMAL PART APHRODISIACS<BR>The international
trade in bushmeat is small but there is growing expatriate African and
Asian demand, the report said.<BR>Often it is linked to the lucrative
global trade in animal body parts believed to have secret powers or
employed in medicines, such as gorilla meat or rhino horn -- long used as
aphrodisiacs.<BR>Smart cars parked outside an exclusive restaurant in
Yaounde bear witness to the bushmeat trade's wealthy
connections.<BR>Elegant waitresses offer patrons a menu of mainly common
game -- pangolin, antelope, bush pig, monkey, cane rat and viper -- at
prices of 5,000-10,000 CFA francs a dish.<BR>But in a fridge outside, a
Reuters reporter saw two arms of what appeared to be a gorilla or a
chimpanzee -- thick black fur and hands still attached -- together with a
piece of what a restaurant employee said was elephant meat.<BR>"If you
want to eat meat of big animals like chimpanzee, gorilla and even the
elephant, you make a special arrangement with her and she will supply it
to you," a military officer who frequents the restaurant said of the
owner.<BR>"She has hired hunters in forest village communities to whom she
supplies ammunition and they supply the meat," he said.<BR>Cameroon has
some of the region's strictest anti-hunting laws. Critics say that, as
elsewhere, they are rarely applied.<BR>"It is outrageous that the majority
of these countries do not even have a single prosecution," said Ofir
Drori, founder of the Last Great Ape Organization Cameroon.<BR>"If the
wildlife trade was the drugs trade, then central Africa would be like me
and you sitting in Bogata," he said.<BR>© Reuters 2008. All Rights
Reserved. | Learn more about
Reuters <BR><BR></FONT> </DIV></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><A
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size=4><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif size=3><STRONG>Calls for
bushmeat ban rejected <BR>James Morgan <BR>Science reporter, BBC News
<BR></STRONG><BR>Bush pigs, duikers, and monkeys for sale, at Makokou
market, Gabon <BR>A blanket ban on bushmeat hunting in Central Africa
would endanger both humans and animals, says a new report. If current
hunting levels persist, many species will be extinct in less than 50
years, says CIFOR - the Centre for International Forestry Research. But
bushmeat provides up to 80% of protein and fat needed in rural diets.
Giving locals the rights and incentives to hunt sustainably would protect
their livelihoods and save forest mammals from extinction, claims CIFOR.
"The bushmeat crisis is not only a crisis of extinction, it is is also a
crisis of livelihoods and food security," said Frances Seymour, director
general of CIFOR, speaking to the BBC. If local people are guaranteed the
benefits of sustainable land-use and hunting practices, they will be
willing to invest in sound management <BR>Frances Seymour,
CIFOR<BR>"Criminalising the whole issue of bushmeat simply drives it
underground. "We need to decriminalise parts of this hunting and trade and
give local communities the rights and incentives to manage these resources
sustainably for their own benefit." 'Important' species CIFOR estimates
that the annual harvest of bushmeat in Central Africa amounts to more than
one million tonnes - the equivalent of four million heads of cattle.
According to the report, large mammal species are particularly vulnerable.
An Epassendje boy with a cane rat, in Gabon <BR>Many - such as elephants,
gorillas and other primate species - have already become locally extinct.
But CIFOR warns that existing policies designed to "crackdown" on hunting
are often counter-productive, as they "effectively outlaw" the hunting of
rodents and other fast-breeding species that are not under threat of
extinction. Overall, international trade in wild animal products has an
estimated value of US$3.9bn. For West and Central Africa alone, the
estimates range from $42m to $205m a year. Yet, these statistics are still
"largely ignored" in official trade and national policies regulating
forest policy, claims the CIFOR report. The authors of the study call on
policymakers in the region to develop policies protecting endangered
species, while allowing sustainable hunting of "common" game, since there
is no clear substitute available if common wild meat sources were to be
depleted. They cite successful models in Peru and also in Sarawak,
Malaysia, where a ban on trading in bushmeat was complemented with
recognition of the hunting rights of indigenous peoples. New perspective
"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," said Ms Seymour. "Sustainable
management of bushmeat resources requires bringing the sector out into the
open, removing the stigma of illegality, and including wild meat
consumption in national statistics and planning. A villager hangs an
antelope in Cameroon <BR>"Reframing the bushmeat problem from one of
international animal welfare to one of sustainable livelihoods - and part
of the global food crisis - might be a good place to start." The report -
Conservation and Use of Wildlife-based Resources: The Bushmeat Crisis -
was produced for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity. It will be discussed at the forthcoming IUCN World Conservation
Congress, in Barcelona, on 5 October. The study highlights the role of the
timber industry in sustainable wildlife management, as around half of the
remaining forest in Africa now falls within timber concessions. Future
partnership The authors note that European consumers are also "partly
responsible" for the bushmeat crisis. "Apart from the direct demand for
bushmeat products from expat communities, European demand for African
timber exports helps to drive this local timber extraction - both legal
and illegal." The report recommends that the local and international
timber industry work with NGOs, local communities, and governments to
develop forest policies and management plans that incorporate wildlife
concerns. CIFOR's recommendations were broadly endorsed by Dr Noelle
Kumpel, programme manager, Central, East and Southern Africa Programme,
Zoological Society of London, who said: "Unless bushmeat hunting is
legalised - obviously within an adequately enforced regulatory framework -
it will remain largely unregulated and increasingly unsustainable. "But as
well as empowering local people and creating mechanisms for community
management of bushmeat, which includes working out what level of hunting
is sustainable, we need to direct funds (eg from payments for ecosystem
services or carbon) to communities so that they have incentives to do
this."</FONT>
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