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Population growth and socioeconomic change has created an unsustainable commercial trade in bushmeat across western and central Africa.
‘Bushmeat’ is an African term for the meat of wild animals and is generally used to refer to all terrestrial species consumed in tropical areas. This encompasses a vast array of animals from cane rats to chimpanzees.
Although bushmeat harvesting is a traditional means of subsistence for forest dwelling people, demand for bushmeat from urban centres has encouraged individuals from forest adjacent communities with few income generation opportunities to hunt for profit.
Mammals tend to form the greatest proportion of bushmeat harvests in Africa with three taxa predominating: primates, ungulates and rodents. Primates (monkeys and apes) are particularly vulnerable to hunting pressures because they are medium– to large-bodied and have slow reproductive rates.
In many areas primates are being hunted to dangerously low levels and local extinctions are being recorded. In the Lebialem Highlands of Cameroon more than 40 mammal species are traded and consumed as bushmeat, including some of Africa’s most threatened primates. The drill,
Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and Cross River gorilla are all selectively targeted by hunters because trade price increases
with body mass.
‘Bushmeat’ is an African term for the meat of wild animals and is generally used to refer to all terrestrial species consumed in tropical areas. This encompasses a vast array of animals from cane rats to chimpanzees.
Although bushmeat harvesting is a traditional means of subsistence for forest dwelling people, demand for bushmeat from urban centres has encouraged individuals from forest adjacent communities with few income generation opportunities to hunt for profit.
Mammals tend to form the greatest proportion of bushmeat harvests in Africa with three taxa predominating: primates, ungulates and rodents. Primates (monkeys and apes) are particularly vulnerable to hunting pressures because they are medium– to large-bodied and have slow reproductive rates.
In many areas primates are being hunted to dangerously low levels and local extinctions are being recorded. In the Lebialem Highlands of Cameroon more than 40 mammal species are traded and consumed as bushmeat, including some of Africa’s most threatened primates. The drill,
Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee and Cross River gorilla are all selectively targeted by hunters because trade price increases
with body mass.
The sheer number of individuals involved in commercial hunting has made wildlife a finite resource. Mammals are depleting in numbers and hunters are struggling to return with adequate catches to financially support their families, leading to increased poverty and hardship.
The Lebialem Hunters’ Beekeeping Initiative aims to facilitate lifestyle changes in
those economically dependent on the unsustainable bushmeat trade by providing them with the necessary training and equipment to become beekeepers.
Encouraging and facilitating trade in an ecologically sensitive product with strong market potential both nationally, and in the future internationally, will have poverty alleviation and conservation benefits.
There is substantial scope for growth since hunters, once fully trained as beekeepers, can motivate and train others within their communities and further afield. The market for honey and beeswax in Cameroon is growing and will continue to grow with marketing investment. International enthusiasm for fair trade products presents another opportunity. By utilising the market economy we can achieve our conservation objectives whilst enhancing the development prospects of the local people.
Learn more >
The Lebialem Hunters’ Beekeeping Initiative aims to facilitate lifestyle changes in
those economically dependent on the unsustainable bushmeat trade by providing them with the necessary training and equipment to become beekeepers.
Encouraging and facilitating trade in an ecologically sensitive product with strong market potential both nationally, and in the future internationally, will have poverty alleviation and conservation benefits.
There is substantial scope for growth since hunters, once fully trained as beekeepers, can motivate and train others within their communities and further afield. The market for honey and beeswax in Cameroon is growing and will continue to grow with marketing investment. International enthusiasm for fair trade products presents another opportunity. By utilising the market economy we can achieve our conservation objectives whilst enhancing the development prospects of the local people.
Learn more >