The Bushmeat Trade

Bushmeat hunting is the most widespread resource extraction in tropical rainforests, above  even deforestation. The definition of bushmeat is simply meat that is caught in the forest, and used to be reserved for local families and tribes. The prevalence of hunting and eating of bushmeat has risen greatly in the past decades though, due to a number of factors:

• ·      Risen human populations result in scarcity of other protein sources
• ·      Bushmeat is a status food and is often chosen over other meats
• ·      Growing urban populations in previous largely rural countries want for a large supply of bushmeat
• ·      Deforestation brings in roads and therefore easier and quicker access to the animals and greater transport potential.
• ·      Advances in hunting technology, such as traps, night vision technology and guns.

In a report by John et al, from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, biodiversity of bushmeat species were analysed in the Congo and Amazon basins. They found that bushmeat is eaten by 0.15 million people in South America, compared to a staggering 4.9 million people in tropical Africa. This is, not surprisingly, reflected in the species exploitation rates with the extraction to production ratio being 30x greater in the Congo than in the Amazon. This equates to 60% of the mammal taxa that are hunted for bushmeat in the Congo being unsustainable, whereas in South America all taxa were at sustainable levels in 2000 when the paper was written.

Primate bushmeat

It is hard to accurately estimate such things, and John et al highlight this, stating that their estimates are higher than previous papers written by their peers. However, it is clear that in Africa, the bushmeat trade is a huge problem for biodiversity.

One such animal family that is highly affected by the trade is primates. Jane Goodall rates it as the greatest threat to primates, and has worked extensively in Africa, particularly with chimpanzees and bonobos. She, rather shockingly, says that within the next 50 years all African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas) could be extinct purely from the bushmeat trade alone.

Chimpanzee and bonobo populations. As you can see their distribution has already been depleted into a number of fairly small pockets. This puts the populations at greater risk of dying out from hunting, disease or habitat loss.

This "delicacy" is not just served in Africa and South America, it can be found in parts of Europe and Canada but I implore you to please never try it and encourage the bushmeat trade. I have no problem with local, rural families sustainably eating bushmeat, but a worldwide market it for it will be appalling for the fauna of our tropical forests.

NB: John et al may need a institutional log-in for access