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