BUSHMEAT AND FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA:

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BUSHMEAT AND FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA ECOLOGICAL
CONSTRAINTS, CHALLENGES, AND THE WAY FORWARD
Elizabeth L. Bennett
ABCG/BCTF Food Security and Conservation in
Africa, Washington DC, 29th October 2004.
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Traditionally, wild meat or game meat or
bushmeat provided much of the food for people
across Africa. In many areas, it still does today.
But this is becoming increasingly untenable. The
human population of Africa has gone up greatly.
Percentage increase in populations, 1950-1992
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And wildlife populations are crashing across much
of the continent.

• In Gabon, 1983-2000, the number of great apes
  declined by more than 50, due in large part to
  commercial hunting for food.

• So how do we reconcile the needs of both people
  and wildlife, to ensure that
• people across the continent are food secure and
• wildlife populations are conserved?

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To determine how much we can continue to rely on
bushmeat as a food source, we must examine

• the potential sustainable supply of bushmeat

• how many people that can support.

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Defining some boundaries to this immense topic,
this talk
focuses mainly on Africa, but with some
illustrative examples from elsewhere
is limited only to the nutritional importance of
bushmeat, not the economic importance
is only about terrestrial vertebrates mainly
mammals which provide most of the bushmeat
protein in Africa. Fish are not included.
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When is hunting for bushmeat sustainable?
Difficult to define, given extreme complexities
of biological systems, and the range of
management goals to which it is relevant.

• If our goal is wildlife conservation, hunting can
  be regarded as sustainable if
• hunted populations do not show a consistent
  decline in numbers over time and
• hunted populations are not reduced to levels
  where they are vulnerable to extinction.

• Given the importance of the resource to people,
  we must add a third criterion
• hunted populations are not reduced to levels
  where they cease to be a significant resource to
  human users.

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In this talk, I shall

• review the potential sustainable supply of
  bushmeat in different ecosystems

• review the main groups of potential consumers
  whose nutrition might be linked to bushmeat

• discuss the options in different ecosystems to
  ensure food security for people, while also
  ensuring wildlife conservation.

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Some ecosystems are more productive for
terrestrial vertebrates than are others. Three
factors determine how productive any ecosystem is
for bushmeat

• number of breeding animals/unit area
• how big they are (amount of meat/animal)
• how many offspring each has/unit time.

Biomass.
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So if we look at potential sustainable bushmeat
supply across the rainfall gradient
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Weve been looking along the rainfall gradient.
We get a parallel set of changes if we look along
the human disturbance gradient in the humid
tropics.
The most productive habitats for bushmeat are in
the middle of both gradients. The least
productive are at each end.
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Looking at tropical forests
An adult human, gaining all his/ her protein from
wild meat, must consume approx. 102 kg of wild
meat per year
Each km2 of tropical forest sustainably produces
approx. 97 kg of edible wild meat/year
HUMAN POPULATION DENSITIES NOW EXCEED THIS
IN MANY TROPICAL FOREST AREAS
So a tropical forest can only sustainably produce
enough wild meat to support maximum of one
person/ km2 if they depend exclusively on wild
meat for their protein.
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Savannahs and human-influenced landscapes can, in
theory, produce more bushmeat and support more
people.

• But supply of bushmeat in these systems still has
  limits. They are very variable (cannot easily be
  quantified), but sustainable offtake will be
  exceeded if
• human populations are high
• offtake is supplying significant outside
  commercial markets.

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Is hunting for bushmeat across Africa sustainable
today?
In very many areas NO! E.g.
Arabuko-Sokoke, Kenya Hunting has reduced
squirrels by 60, and large ungulates to such low
levels that it is no longer worthwhile hunting
for them.
Bioko, Eq. Guinea Hunting has reduced primate
populations by 90 in some areas, and to local
extinction in others.
1991-1996, Malabo market, number of large mammals
(gt 5kg) halved number of small mammals (lt 5 kg)
doubled.
Kilum-Ijim, Cameroon Hunting has extirpated
forest elephants and buffaloes, and driven many
other species to the brink of extinction.
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Theoretical calculations from Central Africa
predict that, at current harvest rates, bushmeat
supplies will decline by 81 over the next 50
years. So bushmeat will not be able to supply
human protein needs for the majority of of the
next generation.
Even for savannahs, the scope for hunting to
supply human protein needs is limited. John
MacNab (1991)
The hypothesis that game cropping would conserve
wildlife and their habitats whilst providing food
for local people must be rejected. The history
of game cropping schemes in the developing
countries of Africa show that almost all were
uneconomical, or fail the test of sustainability.
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Turning to the human needs side of the
equation Who are the core types of consumers of
bushmeat, and what are their options?
1. Traditional subsistence hunters, largely
outside cash economies.

• They are now quite rare.
• Bushmeat (and often fish) are usually their sole
  sources of animal protein.
• Bushmeat consumption rates can be high,
  especially if other foods are scarce.

• Examples of per capita daily consumption rates of
  bushmeat (dressed weight)
• 150g for Efe Pygmies, Ituri Forest, D.R. Congo
• 160-290g for families in northern R. Congo
• gt250g for Kalahari Bushmen, southern Africa.

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• These people
• depend heavily on bushmeat
• are usually the poorest and most marginalized in
  their country
• typically live on lt1 per day.
• Thus, they are the first to suffer as wildlife
  declines.

• As their traditional lands are opened up
• their wildlife rapidly disappears
• they often lack the education and cultural
  context to take advantage of potential jobs
• they lack capital or access to markets, so
  cannot switch to alternative foods.

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They sometimes sell wildlife to obtain cash, but
if this is unsustainable, they can experience
rapid drops in income, and in protein intake.

• attempts at livestock rearing often
  unsuccessful
• people tied to declining wild resources.

• Correlates of the inability to adapt to this
  include
• remoteness from markets
• lack of cash coming into the community
• lack of neighbors from whom farming skills can
  be learned
• cultural difficulties, e.g., in eating domestic
  animals.

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Best documented examples are from outside Africa.
E.g., (i) Penan in Ulu Baram, Sarawak, Malaysia.
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E.g., (ii) Agta in Philippines.

• Between 1975 and 1985
• proportion of successful hunts declined from 63
  to 16
• number of kills per hunt declined from 1.15 to
  0.16 animals
• Agta went from being hunters of abundant
  wildlife in primary forests, to being struggling
  foragers with inadequate wildlife resources.

E.g., (iii) Yuqui Indians, Bolivia
After their lands were opened up by outsiders,
their protein intake dropped from 88g to 44g per
person per day.
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A core goal of management must be to ensure that
these most marginalized peoples retain a good
wildlife resource base to support their lives, at
least until other systems can be put into place.
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2. Peoples in cultural transition

• These people
• are between a remote forest-dependent lifestyle
  and a more modern cash economy
• have mixed sources of income
• are part of a rapidly-changing lifestyle, but
  still use natural resources, including wild meat,
  as a major livelihood support.

• E.g., Rural villages in Gabon
• mainly live close to roads, and are part of a
  cash economy
• eat 351g of wild meat/adult male equivalent/day,
  and it is their main source of protein.

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Peoples in cultural transition tend to have
access to money, weapons, agricultural tools and
markets, so can be extremely destructive of
natural resources without good management.
Still more people in this category depend on
bushmeat as a buffer to see them through times of
hardship (e.g., unemployment, illness, crop
failure, warfare), or to gain additional income
for special needs (e.g., school fees, festivals,
funerals). This buffer goes if wildlife goes.
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Major management interventions are needed here if
we are to
AND
ensure food security.
conserve wildlife
In some areas, once the wildlife has gone, people
automatically find alternatives, e.g., much of
Cameroon.
For others, making the transition is difficult
because alternatives are unaffordable, or not
readily available. Here, interventions are
urgently needed once wildlife resources start to
decline.
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3. Urban dwellers

• Across much of Africa, for urban dwellers,
  bushmeat is
• a luxury item of choice
• more expensive than domestic meat
• eaten not only in private homes, but in expensive
  hotels and restaurants.

In some areas, this becomes ever more pronounced
if urban wealth increases, e.g., in Equatorial
Guinea with recent increases in oil revenues.
Food Security Issues Many alternatives to eating
bushmeat often exist, especially in capital
cities (i) these are major trading centers for
many commodities and (ii) many are close to the
coast, so seafood is available.
Demand to supply urban markets is almost
inevitably unsustainable, and the result is a
loss of the wildlife resource to the rural people
who need it most.
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FUTURE OPTIONS
Is wildlife farming a good option?
In forest areas, generally no. The reasons are

• hunting wild species is always cheaper and
  easier than rearing wild species, so people will
  continue to hunt if they want to eat those
  animals until there are almost no wild ones left
• very few wild species are biologically and
  economically suitable for farming
• obtaining founder stock often depletes wildlife
  populations
• wildlife farms are often a front for a wild
  trade, making enforcement of anti-poaching laws
  difficult
• other problems include genetic contamination,
  introduction of alien invasive species, and
  spread of disease into wild populations from
  farms.

In most cases, wildlife farming Is not a good
option to supply rural protein.
Domestic species have been bred for millennia to
be extremely cost-efficient at converting feed
into meat.
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In savannahs, game ranching can be more
successful, although economically it is sometimes
doubtful.
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Are aquaculture and livestock rearing good
options?

• These are much more likely to provide the
  long-term solution to Africas protein needs
• Domestic species have been bred for
  cost-efficiency for millennia. However
• There are many problems rearing such species in
  remote rain forest areas, including disease,
  cost-efficient availability of feeds, and the
  lack of local husbandry experience.

• We need
• research into suitable hardy breeds of domestic
  species
• considerable education and extension work.

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??
For other future options, we need to be much
better at thinking outside the box.
??
??
??

• E.g.
• 1. Much better international management of marine
  fisheries
• major EU and Asian fishing fleets off west
  African coast
• in Ghana, if marine fisheries catches poor,
  bushmeat poaching in national parks increases.

We need to be developing better ways for marine
fisheries to be a better option for Africans
themselves.
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2. We need much more RD of wildlife friendly
ways to develop agriculture.
E.g., Dale Lewis work in Zambia.
3. We need to work with governments and private
industries more effectively to explore food
supply options to rural areas.
E.g., WCS/CIB/Government program in northern
Congo.
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Conclusions

• Bushmeat is an insecure food source.
• - It is not going to be a significant source of
  nutritional support to a large proportion of the
  next generation, except in the most remote rural
  areas.
• - We can either find alternatives now, before
  the wildlife has been totally depleted, or we
  shall be forced to do so in the future.
• - By then, much of Africas magnificent wildlife
  will have gone, and many of its people might be
  facing malnutrition.

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• 2. Solutions must acknowledge that
• There are biological limits to the amount of
  bushmeat which natural systems can supply
  sustainably. This is especially extreme in
  tropical forest systems

• Human livelihoods are most effectively sustained
  in highly modified ecosystems, where humans have
  intensified agriculture and grazing systems.

• We need to plan at a landscape scale, for
  sustainable landscapes. These must contain areas
  dedicated to production of food to meet human
  needs, and areas dedicated to conserving
  wildlife. We need multi-disciplinary expertise in
  landscape planning and implementation.

• We need to be innovative, and think more outside
  the box.

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Only with all of this will we be able to ensure
food security for people across Africa,
especially tropical forest Africa, in the next
generation..
And also be able to conserve Africas magnificent
wildlife.
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THANK YOU!
Photos by E. Bennett B. Curren P. Elkan J.
Hart T. Hart M. Nichols/NGS K. Redford J.
Robinson R. Ruggiero WWF.