Growing demand for bushmeat endangers wild animals
© 2000 Reuters Limited
October 11, 2000
Story by Patricia Reaney
AMMAN - Commercial hunting of wild animals for their meat is one of the biggest threats to endangered species in Africa and Asia and has already made some extinct.
Conservationists at an eight-day environment meeting in Amman that ends on Wednesday said the demand for meat from gorillas, chimpanzees, turtles, birds and other species was high and increasing.
Bushmeat is a source of food and protein in poor rural areas of developing countries and trade in meat, skins and other products from exotic species has mushroomed into a multi-million dollar industry.
"It is a growing force in species and biodiversity loss. The extent and impact is becoming increasingly clear," Steven Broad of TRAFFIC International told the World Conservation Union (IUCN) congress, an umbrella group of environmental institutions and agencies from around the world.
"There are real needs to find strong conservation solutions," the executive director of the U.S.-based animal protection group added.
Conservationists said they are urging the IUCN to pressure governments to take steps to curtail the trade in bushmeat.
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY
Indigenous peoples have hunted wild animals for meat for thousands of years but the bushmeat trade has evolved from providing meat for local people into a commercialised industry where automatic weapons have replaced bows and arrows.
"It is a huge, huge issue," said Mohamed Bakarr, a project manager for Conservation International in the United States.
The bushmeat industry is worth $350 million a year in Ghana and produces $121 million annually in the Ivory Coast.
Logging and mining industries have opened up remote areas, giving hunters access to animals that were previously beyond their reach. Migrant workers hunt wildlife because it is a cheap source of food.
Wars, growing populations and poverty have also contributed to the problem.
In addition to the environmental impact, eating bushmeat has serious implications for human health, Bakarr said.
Scientists believe the HIV virus that causes AIDS jumped species when humans ate chimpanzees infected with a similar virus. Bushmeat has also been linked to the transmission of the deadly Ebola virus in the Ivory Coat.
PRIMATES UNDER THREAT
"Primates are one of the groups of animals that is being most heavily impacted by bushmeat hunting," said Russ Mittermeier, a primate expert and the president of Conservation International.
"This is a group of animals that has seen the most dramatic increase in the number of endangered and critically endangered species," he added.
Conservationists believe the illegal use of bushmeat involves more people and has a greater impact on wild animal populations than any other wildlife activity.
Stopping bushmeat hunting completely will be difficult because of the economic implications, but Mittermeir said restrictions on hunting endangered and critically endangered species would go a long way to easing the problem.
"We don't have any easy solutions. It is a very complicated issue but it is one that we have now identified as a very critical for the next few decades," Mittermeier added.
An estimated 2,500 delegates are attending the congress.