Conservation and use of Conservation and use of wildlife: the bushmeat crisiswildlife: the bushmeat crisis

MONITORING AND SUSTAINABLY MONITORING AND SUSTAINABLY MANAGING FOREST BIODIVERSITYMANAGING FOREST BIODIVERSITY

FAO – ITTO – IUCN Side Event, CBD COP FAO – ITTO – IUCN Side Event, CBD COP 99

Bonn, 21/05/2008Bonn, 21/05/2008

Robert Nasi & Nathalie Vanvliet

“The forest commands man, because it is in the forest that man makes its fields, hunts, collects fruits and medicine and after many years old villages become the forest again”

(Bakota elders, Gabon)

OutlineOutline

Importance of wildlifeImportance of wildlife The “Bushmeat Crisis”The “Bushmeat Crisis” Factors affecting sustainabilityFactors affecting sustainability Lessons learnedLessons learned Barriers to managementBarriers to management

In West and Central Africa, estimates of the value of the bushmeat trade range from US$42 to US$205 million per year. The current harvest in Central Africa alone may well be in excess of 2 million tonnes annually, the equivalent of over 1.3 billion chickens or 2.5 million cows!

(Nasi)

Importance of wildlifeImportance of wildlife

EcologicalEcological Keystone speciesKeystone species Ecological servicesEcological services

EconomicalEconomical Local livelihoods, food securityLocal livelihoods, food security Income generationIncome generation

CulturalCultural Social bonding, redistributionSocial bonding, redistribution Traditional ceremonies, taboosTraditional ceremonies, taboos

“Realistically, if changes in attitude do not occur soon…a fitting epithet for the loss of [Sulawesi] endemic mammals and birds may be 'they tasted good”

(O'Brien & Kinnaird)

The “Bushmeat Crisis”The “Bushmeat Crisis”

Empirical evidenceEmpirical evidence Historical evidence of hunting-related extinctions Historical evidence of hunting-related extinctions

(passenger pigeon, American buffalo…)(passenger pigeon, American buffalo…) Today’s evidence of local extirpation because of Today’s evidence of local extirpation because of

hunting (for food or trade in wildlife parts)hunting (for food or trade in wildlife parts)

Is “doomsday” coming?Is “doomsday” coming? Not sure but there is a clear sustainability Not sure but there is a clear sustainability

problemproblem

Biodiversity but also livelihoods of local Biodiversity but also livelihoods of local people are at stakepeople are at stake

You have to have at least one square meal a day to be an environmentalist

(Borlaug)

Factors affecting sustainabilityFactors affecting sustainability

Nature of the wildlife resourceNature of the wildlife resource Inappropriate policies and governanceInappropriate policies and governance DemographyDemography Poverty and hungerPoverty and hunger Increased commercialization of the wildlife Increased commercialization of the wildlife

harvestharvest Logging and other resource extraction Logging and other resource extraction

activitiesactivities Fragmentation and land-use changesFragmentation and land-use changes Agricultural sectorAgricultural sector

•Game ranching (Burkina Faso, South Africa, Namibia, etc.)

•Community based wildlife management (Zones cynégétiques villageoises C.A.R & Cameroon; Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Peruvian Amazon)

•Agreements, protocols to reduce hunting in logging concession (WCS and CIB, Congo; WWF and Bordamur, Gabon…)

•Wildlife master plan (WCS and Sarawak government)

•Bushmeat Crisis Task Force…

Lessons learnedLessons learned

Complex wicked problem, no simple Complex wicked problem, no simple solutionsolution

Livelihood issues as important as Livelihood issues as important as biological onesbiological ones

Driven by many underlying causes Driven by many underlying causes similar to the ones that drive povertysimilar to the ones that drive poverty

Blanket interdiction and enforcement Blanket interdiction and enforcement only policies do not workonly policies do not work

A more realistic starting point might be to treat the problem as one of ‘helping range states to better manage a resource in unpropitious circumstances’ – not of seeking to impose idealistic and externally-defined conservation aims as a short-term strategy

(Nasi et al.)

Barriers to managementBarriers to management

Knowledge of the most hunted Knowledge of the most hunted species is at best minimalspecies is at best minimal

Stocks are very difficulty to monitorStocks are very difficulty to monitor Tenure rights often unclear or Tenure rights often unclear or

disputeddisputed Substitution by other sources of Substitution by other sources of

proteins is often impossibleproteins is often impossible

New monitoring methodsNew monitoring methods

Improvement of “classical” methods Improvement of “classical” methods (line transect, capture-recapture, (line transect, capture-recapture, call…)call…)

New non invasive capture-recapture New non invasive capture-recapture (dung DNA)(dung DNA)

Use of surrogates (diachronic Use of surrogates (diachronic comparisons or continuous comparisons or continuous monitoring of catches)monitoring of catches)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

C. callipygus

C. dorsalis

C. monticola

C. nigrifrons

C. sylvicultor

Hyemoscus aquaticus

Tragelaphus spekei

Potamochoerus porcus

Atherurus africanus

Thryonomys sp.

Felis aurata

Panthera pardus

small carnivors

Gorilla gorilla

Mandrillus sphinx

small diurnal monkeys

Osteolaemus tetrapsis

%

Atherurus africanus

0

1

2

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

C. callipygus

0

1

2

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

C. dorsalis

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

C. monticola

0

1

2

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

small diurnal monkeys

0

1

2

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

Potamochoerus porcus

0

1

2

3

< 2 2 to 5 5 to 10 > 10

distance to the village (km)

Id

Participatory studiesParticipatory studies

Resource mappingResource mapping Sharing hunters’ lifeSharing hunters’ life Understanding Understanding

household economieshousehold economies

New modeling toolsNew modeling tools

disperseSansContrainte| bon |

(self installe = false and: [self age > (20*30*24)])

ifTrue: [bon := self patch neighbourhood select: [:a | a estFavorable].

bon isEmpty ifFalse: [^self moveTo: (Cormas selectRandomlyFrom: bon)]]

System modelingMulti-agent modelsBio-economic models

What can you doWhat can you do??

Read the UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/13/INF/9 document and the CBD – CIFOR Technical Publication.

They contain useful information and recommendations. Make these options yours and those of your countries

Special thanks to:

David Wilkie, Liz Bennett, Manuel Boissière and Charles Doumenge for

the pictures

and to

David Brown, Gijs van Tol, Liz Bennett, Caroline Tutin, Tim

Christophersen and the CBD NTFP liaison group for the contents

Robert NASI & Nathalie Vanvliet