Is Africa's wildlife being eaten to extinction?

Mark Jones BBC Green Room 3 Aug 10;

The rapid growth in the global demand for bushmeat is leaving many African species facing the possibility of being eaten out of existence, says Mark Jones. In this week's Green Room, he calls for western nations to do more to tackle the problem of illegal imports of bushmeat.

We've all heard how the illegal trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn and other high value products is threatening Africa's wildlife.

However, the impact of these products is dwarfed by the trade in bushmeat, defined as meat from Africa's wild animals traded for human consumption.

According to the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, the hunting of and trade in bushmeat represents "the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa".

Traditionally, bushmeat hunting was a subsistence activity.

It is now a multi-billion dollar international trade involving hundreds of species, from forest herbivores such as duikers and other antelopes to wild pigs, rodents, elephants and primates.

The exponential increase in the trade over recent years is being driven by demand from the exploding and ever more urbanised human population in Africa, and the increasing international value and demand for bushmeat products.

Commercial logging and the associated infrastructure development and expansion have given hunters easy access to previously impenetrable African forests, and ready-made transport routes to towns and cities.

Unsustainable consumption

The term bushmeat is normally used in reference to the illegal trade.

The trade may be illegal because the species concerned is protected under national or international laws, the method of killing is prohibited, or because the animal is taken from a protected area.

The food source was originally exploited because of its low cost, lack of ownership issues, weak law enforcement and the lack of alternatives.

Now, the increasing value of bushmeat has attracted criminal syndicates, with sophisticated and efficient logistical capabilities.

Law enforcement agencies in many African countries do not have the resources to keep up, and in some cases high level involvement in the trade may protect it from official interference.

This makes accurate estimates of the trade difficult to obtain, although Central African consumers alone may be eating more than 2.5m tonnes each year.

Many target species have already been extirpated from parts of West Africa. Wildlife in Eastern and Southern African countries is increasingly being targeted, and Kenya is estimated to have experienced a loss of about 50% in its wildlife in recent decades, largely as a result of the bushmeat trade.

A recent study, involving researchers from the Zoological Society of London, estimated that as much as 270 tonnes of bushmeat might be coming through a single airport in Paris annually, destined both for personal consumption and to supply the lucrative trade in high value products.

It is also estimated that more than a quarter of all mammal species hunted for bushmeat are threatened with extinction.

Feeling the loss

Widespread hunting of animals for bushmeat depletes populations of affected species, and can lead to local population crashes or extirpation.

There are, however, much wider potential impacts.

Species have functions: as prey for other species, seed dispersers or forest rebuilders. So reductions in certain species can have far reaching impacts on others, causing a loss of biodiversity and a crisis within ecosystems.

The loss of biodiversity leaves us with a predominance of a few so-called "weedy species", such as those that thrive in continually disturbed, human-dominated environments.

Small populations of highly endangered animals can be disproportionately affected.

Although the number of Great Apes involved in the bushmeat trade is small, their removal can have devastating impacts on populations, and Great Ape species in Africa are thought to be at risk of extinction over the next two decades if the trade continues at its current rate.

The commercial bushmeat trade also threatens the livelihoods and food security of indigenous rural people, which can result in social and political instability.

Bushmeat can also carry potentially devastating diseases - from anthrax to ebola, monkey pox to retroviruses - that may have disastrous impacts on livestock and far-reaching consequences for human health.

Food for thought

For the bushmeat trade to be controlled so that it does not cause further decimation of Africa's wildlife, multi-faceted solutions need urgently to be put in place.

As renowned conservationist Ian Redmond suggests, we need to aim for the trade to be Legal, Sustainable, and Disease Free.

Until recently, most conservation projects concerned with bushmeat have tended to focus on research, education, and enforcement, with few attempts to provide alternative livelihoods or food sources.

Many of the countries central to the trade are poor and suffer from corruption.

These countries need resources, incentives and training if they are to apply and enforce national and international regulations.

Prosecution of illegal traders often fail because of inadequate availability of resources to identify the type of meat concerned, so laboratories need to be set up to enable simple and inexpensive forensic services.

In importing countries, bushmeat is often not considered a high priority by customs authorities when compared with, for example, drugs or arms; so the profile of bushmeat in the international enforcement arena needs to be raised.

Extensive public awareness programmes are required, aimed at educating people at all levels of the trade.

A number of umbrella organisations have been established in recent years to try and improve local education, such as the Bushmeat-free Eastern Africa Network (BEAN) initiative. Some have been very successful.

However, far more effort is needed, with co-ordination at an international level.

Perhaps most importantly, people who currently rely on the illegal bushmeat trade for their livelihood or as an essential protein source need to be given alternative options; and herein lies arguably the greatest challenge.

Some good initiatives exist, including the development of fish farms, apiaries, and arable agriculture projects. Many more are required if the trade is to be significantly reduced.

Local actions to curb the bushmeat trade need to be resourced through global responses, requiring significant investment at a time of international financial instability and introspection.

If Africa's unique wildlife, and its rural communities, are to survive the impacts of the bushmeat trade, continued well-directed development aid for the poor countries of Africa throughout this period of global financial uncertainty is essential.

Mark Jones is programmes and fundraising director of Care for the Wild International, a UK-based conservation charity

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website