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  • FTA Highlight No. 6 – Wild Meat

FTA Highlight No. 6 – Wild Meat


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Millions of people worldwide depend, to varying degrees, on non-wood forest products such as wild meat, including more than 150 million in the Global South.

For many rural people wild meat is the most accessible and most consumed source of protein. Urban dwellers also consume wild meat, but choose wild meat for reasons other than nutrition, including a desire to connect to a rural past or to culture.

The sale of wild meat also contributes to livelihoods for increasing numbers of hunters.

Download the FTA Highlight No.6! [PDF]

Evidence is increasing that this is depleting the populations of many forest animals. Coupled with habitat loss and deforestation, overhunting can result in the extinction of species.

As part of “FTA’s highlights of a decade,” a new series focusing on its main results since being established in 2011, the FTA program is now publishing the volume on Wild Meat.

Globally, there is evidence of the risks of overhunting. The global, local or functional extinction of populations or species of larger animals —known as defaunation — can change the long-term dynamics of ecosystems.

Campaigns around the bushmeat “crisis” emerged in the early 1990s. Those initiatives gave way to efforts to develop alternative livelihoods to replace the demand for wild meat and looked for biological and policy responses to prevent wildlife declines and promote human well-being.

The Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) was established in 2011 under CGIAR’s FTA Program. It has three main objectives: strengthening the evidence base for effective interventions; identifying gaps in knowledge and areas where further work is required; and recommending policy changes to address the overexploitation of wild meat.

The Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) has produced studies in Africa, Latin America and Asia, and a global assessment.

BRI’s work has generated a better understanding of the importance of Indigenous Peoples in protecting biodiversity.

The BRI-CIFOR team, with its partners, created the global WILDMEAT database, a powerful evidence base for policy makers, practitioners, researchers and civil society.

The association between wild meat and disease has stimulated research on wild meat and human health in general, and Ebola virus disease outbreaks.

Summary of research undertaken by the BRI and partners to investigate the potential drivers associated with Ebola outbreaks

Africa’s urban population is expected to more than triple over 40 years, which will have a strong impact on the animal populations that provide wild meat.

Wild meat network of a typical family in the Colombian Amazon, illustrating the variety of scenarios in wild meat exchanges

CIFOR via the BRI was a member of the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) programme.

Research led by BRI found that a crucial element is providing local people with alternative sources of animal protein.

The BRI-CIFOR team, with its country partners, carried out a project in 10 Baka villages in Cameroon. Baka Pygmy hunters participated in mapping their hunting territories.

Understanding the complex dynamics of wild meat use in the COVID-19 world will require increased collaboration between environmental and resource entities and the ecological and conservation sciences.

Download the publication to find out how future initiatives can build on FTA results and work in way that ensures a balance between humans and native fauna species, social inclusiveness, respect for traditional knowledge, cross-sector approaches, and capacity building.

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  • Ebola outbreaks linked to forest loss, new study finds

Ebola outbreaks linked to forest loss, new study finds


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A river rund through Mau Forest in Kenya. Photo by P. Shepherd/CIFOR
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Wildmeat is sold at Bartica market in Guyana. Photo by M. Lopez/CIFOR

Scientists track the disease to the edge of newly cleared forests.

News of an Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) outbreak strikes fear not only in Africa where it originates, but around the world. In humans, the virus produces severe symptoms such as bleeding from the eyes, nose and mouth, loss of consciousness, seizures and eventual death.

First discovered in 1976 in Central Africa, the worst outbreak happened between 2014-2016 when the virus rapidly spread through Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, killing more than 11,000 men, women and children. Cases were also reported in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. With no known cure, governments must rely on prevention and control strategies to contain new outbreaks.

But in a new study, scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Spain’s Universidad de Malaga and other partner institutions have uncovered a vital piece of the Ebola puzzle — when and where outbreaks can occur.

Watch: Let’s talk about bushmeat

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

“Since Ebola is transmitted to humans from wild animals we were initially very interested in the link between the virus and bushmeat practices,” says Professor John E. Fa, a Senior Associate at CIFOR and a Professor at the UK’s Manchester Metropolitan University.

“This led us to the next question: we knew there was no evidence that Ebola happens in cycles, so we asked, ‘What other conditions on the ground are there to encourage this virus to flourish and infect people?’” says Fa.

A river runs through Mau Forest in Kenya. Photo by P. Shepherd/CIFOR

The team — made up of practitioners, landscape ecologists and modellers, the latter led by Dr. Jesus Olivero of the Faculty of Sciences in Malaga — joined forces to investigate patterns of forest loss in areas where Ebola disease outbreaks had been recorded, and other sites where no outbreaks had occurred. The question to be answered was whether there were substantial differences in the rates and extent of deforestation in these two distinct types of sites.

“The comparison is remarkable. In the outbreak areas, it’s not just more deforestation, but there is also greater forest fragmentation,” says Olivero.

The scientists point out that as large forest blocks are broken up into smaller fragments, this may become an open invitation for new instances of contact to take place between humans and potential natural carriers, thereby increasing the risk of an outbreak.

Although the possible link between forest loss and zoonotic disease has been suggested before, the findings of the present work provide strong evidence of an association between Ebola outbreak locations and deforestation. The breakthrough in the new study occurred when the team noted a pattern in the timing of deforestation prior to the outbreaks.

“For the first time, we saw a direct correlation between forest fragmentation and when EVD outbreaks happen,” says Olivero.

“We found that EVD outbreaks tended to occur in areas that experienced forest loss up to two years prior.”

Read more: Eating and conserving bushmeat in Africa

GETTING A HEADS UP

The research team says the data could lead to the development of an early warning system, which means governments in Ebola risk regions can get a head start on implementing interventions. This is key, because most EVD outbreaks happen in remote, rural communities where there are few resources.

“Once we know where these potential hotspots are, we can create a map showing where an outbreak is likely to occur and mobilize people and resources to monitor local communities,” says Fa.

This means that surveillance and medical teams, as well as community awareness activities, could make preparations in identified high-risk areas before the virus strikes and, in doing so, save lives.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION 

A sign advertises wild meat in Guyana. Photo by M. Lopez/CIFOR

The new study clearly suggests that preserving forested areas must be a high priority for nations throughout the world.

“Tropical rainforests are chock-a-block with species of all kinds, including pathogens, which means that for such a high diversity of animal hosts there are corresponding parasites, viruses, and so on,” notes Fa.

“Our feeling is that once you start playing around with an ecosystem, you might have a flurry of activity of viruses that may even start looking for new hosts,” he adds.

Fa says much more needs to be done to fully understand how EVD outbreaks occur, and how the virus is transmitted. The team is currently looking at how outbreaks may be influenced by climate, and how potential Ebola host animals, such as bats, may be linked to deforestation.

“It is now fundamental to go to the field to find out what creates disease flurries, and also to do more research into different types of forests with different levels of deforestation. We need to know what happens to the species, what happens to the virus, in these areas,” he says.

Fa adds that it’s crucial to look at the big picture, at how emerging infectious diseases like Ebola are moving out of remote areas and infecting the general public, and the role that nature plays.

“We see the importance of keeping biodiversity intact,” he concludes.

Watch: Future solutions for bushmeat in Colombia

By Suzanna Dayne, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News. 

This research is part of CIFOR’s Bushmeat Research Initiative. For more information on this topic, please contact John E. Fa at jfa949@gmail.com or Jesus Olivero at jesusolivero@uma.es.

This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, which is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors. It is also supported by UK aid from the UK Government and USAID. 

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  • Ebola outbreaks linked to forest loss, new study finds

Ebola outbreaks linked to forest loss, new study finds

17 November, 2017

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A river rund through Mau Forest in Kenya. Photo by P. Shepherd/CIFOR
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FTA COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
Wildmeat is sold at Bartica market in Guyana. Photo by M. Lopez/CIFOR

Scientists track the disease to the edge of newly cleared forests.

News of an Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) outbreak strikes fear not only in Africa where it originates, but around the world. In humans, the virus produces severe symptoms such as bleeding from the eyes, nose and mouth, loss of consciousness, seizures and eventual death.

First discovered in 1976 in Central Africa, the worst outbreak happened between 2014-2016 when the virus rapidly spread through Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, killing more than 11,000 men, women and children. Cases were also reported in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. With no known cure, governments must rely on prevention and control strategies to contain new outbreaks.

But in a new study, scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Spain’s Universidad de Malaga and other partner institutions have uncovered a vital piece of the Ebola puzzle — when and where outbreaks can occur.

Watch: Let’s talk about bushmeat

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

“Since Ebola is transmitted to humans from wild animals we were initially very interested in the link between the virus and bushmeat practices,” says Professor John E. Fa, a Senior Associate at CIFOR and a Professor at the UK’s Manchester Metropolitan University.

“This led us to the next question: we knew there was no evidence that Ebola happens in cycles, so we asked, ‘What other conditions on the ground are there to encourage this virus to flourish and infect people?’” says Fa.

A river runs through Mau Forest in Kenya. Photo by P. Shepherd/CIFOR

The team — made up of practitioners, landscape ecologists and modellers, the latter led by Dr. Jesus Olivero of the Faculty of Sciences in Malaga — joined forces to investigate patterns of forest loss in areas where Ebola disease outbreaks had been recorded, and other sites where no outbreaks had occurred. The question to be answered was whether there were substantial differences in the rates and extent of deforestation in these two distinct types of sites.

“The comparison is remarkable. In the outbreak areas, it’s not just more deforestation, but there is also greater forest fragmentation,” says Olivero.

The scientists point out that as large forest blocks are broken up into smaller fragments, this may become an open invitation for new instances of contact to take place between humans and potential natural carriers, thereby increasing the risk of an outbreak.

Although the possible link between forest loss and zoonotic disease has been suggested before, the findings of the present work provide strong evidence of an association between Ebola outbreak locations and deforestation. The breakthrough in the new study occurred when the team noted a pattern in the timing of deforestation prior to the outbreaks.

“For the first time, we saw a direct correlation between forest fragmentation and when EVD outbreaks happen,” says Olivero.

“We found that EVD outbreaks tended to occur in areas that experienced forest loss up to two years prior.”

Read more: Eating and conserving bushmeat in Africa

GETTING A HEADS UP

The research team says the data could lead to the development of an early warning system, which means governments in Ebola risk regions can get a head start on implementing interventions. This is key, because most EVD outbreaks happen in remote, rural communities where there are few resources.

“Once we know where these potential hotspots are, we can create a map showing where an outbreak is likely to occur and mobilize people and resources to monitor local communities,” says Fa.

This means that surveillance and medical teams, as well as community awareness activities, could make preparations in identified high-risk areas before the virus strikes and, in doing so, save lives.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION 

A sign advertises wild meat in Guyana. Photo by M. Lopez/CIFOR

The new study clearly suggests that preserving forested areas must be a high priority for nations throughout the world.

“Tropical rainforests are chock-a-block with species of all kinds, including pathogens, which means that for such a high diversity of animal hosts there are corresponding parasites, viruses, and so on,” notes Fa.

“Our feeling is that once you start playing around with an ecosystem, you might have a flurry of activity of viruses that may even start looking for new hosts,” he adds.

Fa says much more needs to be done to fully understand how EVD outbreaks occur, and how the virus is transmitted. The team is currently looking at how outbreaks may be influenced by climate, and how potential Ebola host animals, such as bats, may be linked to deforestation.

“It is now fundamental to go to the field to find out what creates disease flurries, and also to do more research into different types of forests with different levels of deforestation. We need to know what happens to the species, what happens to the virus, in these areas,” he says.

Fa adds that it’s crucial to look at the big picture, at how emerging infectious diseases like Ebola are moving out of remote areas and infecting the general public, and the role that nature plays.

“We see the importance of keeping biodiversity intact,” he concludes.

Watch: Future solutions for bushmeat in Colombia

By Suzanna Dayne, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News. 

This research is part of CIFOR’s Bushmeat Research Initiative. For more information on this topic, please contact John E. Fa at jfa949@gmail.com or Jesus Olivero at jesusolivero@uma.es.

This research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, which is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors. It is also supported by UK aid from the UK Government and USAID. 

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  • Wild meat, between legitimacy and illegality

Wild meat, between legitimacy and illegality

13 July, 2017

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Despite being illegal, bushmeat trade is a reality that contributes to many people’s livelihoods. Bushmeat trade in Colombia only occurs at a relatively local scale, with the surplus being sold in the village or sent to the nearest town. Urban indigenous people consume bushmeat and consider this as their ancestral right that cannot be removed from them just because they have adopted a urban lifestyle.

Originally published at CIFOR.org.

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  • Wild meat and food security

Wild meat and food security

10 February, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video shows what bushmeat means for many rural people in Colombia (Spanish with English subtitles).

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  • Future solutions for bushmeat in Colombia

Future solutions for bushmeat in Colombia

05 February, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video from Colombia is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Wild meat a generalized phenomenon in rural Colombia

Wild meat a generalized phenomenon in rural Colombia

04 February, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video from Colombia is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Wild meat threatened by deforestation and mining

Wild meat threatened by deforestation and mining

03 February, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video from Colombia shows some of the challenges of the rural population to access bushmeat.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Wild meat between legitimacy and illegality

Wild meat between legitimacy and illegality

02 February, 2017

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FTA

Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video shows the challenges of the rural population that still very much depends on bushmeat as a source of food.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Wild meat and its cultural importance

Wild meat and its cultural importance

01 February, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This short video shows the cultural importance of bushmeat for many rural populations, here in Colombia.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Wild meat and armed conflict

Wild meat and armed conflict

31 January, 2017

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Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video from Colombia shows some of the challenges of the rural population to access bushmeat.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Forests, people and wild meat in Chocó

Forests, people and wild meat in Chocó


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FTA

Established by CIFOR in 2011, the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) brings together diverse researchers and practitioners to generate and share knowledge on bushmeat harvesting, marketing and consumption across Latin America, Africa and Asia. The initiative was established under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

This video shows what bushmeat means for the population of Chocó, one of 32 districts of Colombia.

It is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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  • Let’s talk about bushmeat

Let’s talk about bushmeat

13 November, 2016

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Bushmeat is the meat of wild animals used by humans for food. In this video, Professor John Fa of Manchester Metropolitan University and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) walks viewers through the concept of bushmeat, and the challenges it poses for sustainability of wildlife and sustainability of livelihoods.

Learn more about bushmeat at www.cifor.org/bushmeat

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  • All about bushmeat: A new website for sustainable management of wildlife

All about bushmeat: A new website for sustainable management of wildlife


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A man holds up bushmeat, Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Agus Andrianto/CIFOR
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A man holds up bushmeat, Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Agus Andrianto/CIFOR
A man holds up bushmeat, Papua, Indonesia. Photo: Agus Andrianto/CIFOR

Bushmeat is defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity (2011) as: The meat of wild animals harvested in tropical and sub-tropical countries, for food and for non-food purposes, including medicinal use.

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) today launched a new website on bushmeat – wild species that are hunted for food. The site brings together decades of research on the sustainable management of wildlife, with a particular focus on hunting in the tropical forests of the Congo Basin and the Amazon. The research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

Visit the Bushmeat website here.

Read about the latest research on Forests News here.

The new site builds on the work of the Bushmeat Research Initiative (BRI) and the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife Management (CPW) to create a comprehensive resource for journalists, researchers, policy makers, students and the general public.

The latest publications and research findings on bushmeat are presented together with news from the field, as well as a suite of multimedia products, including animation, videos and photo essays. Researchers are encouraged to add their own findings to the interactive Bushmeat Database and Data Map, joining a global community of practice on bushmeat.

CIFOR plans to launch similar content packages on other areas of research in the near future.

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  • From the Congo to the Amazon, hunters speak the same language

From the Congo to the Amazon, hunters speak the same language


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Research suggests hunters in the Congo Basin face similar issues to hunters elsewhere. Photo: Ollivier Girard / CIFOR.
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By Barbara Fraser, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News

Although continents apart, hunters in the forests of Africa and Latin America can learn from each other’s experiences in wildlife management and the use of bushmeat, according to experts from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

“In both the Congo and the Amazon, millions of people depend on wild species for food, and hunting and fishing provide a large percentage of nutrients,” said John Fa, senior research associate at CIFOR and coordinator of the Bushmeat Research Initiative.

In addition to hunting to feed their families, hunters in both the Congo and the Amazon Basins sell some of the wild meat they catch. The income provides a buffer against crop failures or other economic crises, as well as money for household expenses, health care or school fees.

AGAINST OVERHUNTING

But wildlife management is crucial to make sure that hunting—or rather, overhunting—does not have excessive negative consequences for ecosystems, Fa said.

For example, overhunting of a certain animal species could reduce the scattering of the seeds of plants on which it feeds, gradually decreasing the number of those plants and, therefore, the food supply.

“Changing the vegetation changes the food supply, which affects the animal species that can survive in that landscape,” Fa said.

Overhunting can be controlled if hunters know how much game their communities are harvesting, said Nathalie Van Vliet, a senior researcher at CIFOR.

“The problem is that hunters know how much they or their neighbors harvest, but not what others harvest, so they don’t know how much the community harvests as a whole,” she said.

ARMED WITH A NOTEBOOK

Community monitoring can fill that gap. In parts of Africa and the Amazon, hunters are armed not only with shotguns, but also with notebooks or cell phones to record information about where and what they hunt and conditions in the forest.

In Namibia, where hunting—including trophy hunting—is an important source of both income and food for communities, game guards keep detailed records that allow community conservancy committees to monitor impacts and adjust quotas, according to Greenwell Matongo of WWF Namibia.

Matongo was among a group of researchers, government officials and hunters who met in Leticia, Colombia, in October 2015, to discuss regulatory changes for legalizing the sale of bushmeat in Colombia.

Hunters in the Ticoya Indigenous Reserve or resguardo near Leticia, along the Amazon River where the borders of Colombia, Brazil and Peru converge, are experimenting with a cell phone app to help them track wildlife.

By becoming citizen scientists, hunters gather data that are valuable to their communities and to researchers, said Brian Child, associate professor in the geography department and the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida.

“People love it—it’s so empowering. They love learning, they love doing graphs, they love understanding what the data are saying, they love presenting it back to communities,” Child said of community-based wildlife monitoring.

“That’s where the real gain is—in the communities themselves becoming paraprofessionals and collecting, analyzing and responding to data,” he added.

A TALE OF TWO BASINS

Although both the Amazon and Congo Basins include expanses of tropical forest that is home to bushmeat hunters, the two regions differ in some significant ways.

The Congo Basin has less than half as much dense forest—1.6 million square kilometers, compared to 3.9 million square kilometers in the Amazon—and more than twice as many inhabitants as the Amazon.

Research in the past seemed to indicate that substantially more bushmeat is consumed in the Congo Basin than the Amazon. According to one rough estimate from 2010, bushmeat consumption in the Congo basin totaled about 3.2 million tons in one year, compared to just under 1 million tons in the Amazon.

But that estimate and others like it are extrapolated from relatively little data, some of which is old, Van Vliet said. More recent studies show that people continue to consume bushmeat even after moving to cities from rural areas, but further research is needed to understand how consumption patterns change, she said.

Community wildlife management is crucial for adapting to changing circumstances, said Van Vliet, who works with hunters in Colombia and Gabon who are designing hunting management plans.

“The hunters in Gabon realized that they needed to set limits on the hunting of partially protected species in their area,” she said. “The question was where to set the limit, because they did not have data showing how much would be sustainable.”

Van Vliet suggested an adaptive management plan, which would begin by setting the limit at the amount currently being harvested. The hunters would then monitor the impacts and adjust the plan as necessary.

“The problem was that no one knew how much they harvested as a community,” she said. “A community monitoring system provides important information to fill in those gaps.”

The hunters in Gabon—who set a limit of 30 bush pigs a year, based on data showing that they had hunted 28 in 2014—are using a monitoring system similar to one used by hunters in the Ticoya resguardo, which is in the southernmost corner of Colombia, near the Amazon River.

PEN PALS

Van Vliet would like the two groups of hunters to be able to learn from each other’s experiences.

“They face similar challenges,” she said. “I think there are fewer differences between a hunter in Gabon and a hunter in the Amazon than a hunter in Gabon and a city dweller in Gabon.”

While meeting with hunters during a recent trip to Gabon, Van Vliet received messages from hunters in the Ticoya resguardo via the smartphone app WhatsApp, and began to think about ways in which the two groups might be able to communicate.

“The problem is language, but they could exchange photos,” she said.

The hunters in Gabon were especially interested in how the hunters in Colombia managed fruiting tree species to attract certain animals.

“They said they felt wildlife was farther away now than in their grandparents’ day,” she said of the Gabon hunters. “They said that could be due to hunting or to logging, which sometimes removes trees that bear fruit.”

The African hunters were intrigued by the idea of planting some of those tree species closer to their villages to attract animals, as communities in the Ticoya resguardo had done.

“I think these exchanges are very useful,” Van Vliet said. “I learn a lot from looking at these different situations, and I think they would, too.”

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