ODI/ZSL Bushmeat and Livelihoods Conference

A conference on the theme of ‘Bushmeat and Livelihoods' was held
at the Zoological Society of London on 23-24 September, 2004. It was organised jointly by ODI and ZSL, with funding from ZSL's ‘Bushmeat and Forests Conservation Programme' and ODI's ‘Wild meat, Livelihoods Security and Conservation in the Tropics Project', which is supported by the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation. Contributions came from field workers and policy makers who have sought to bridge conservation and development perspectives.

To consider the state of existing knowledge on wild meat from a livelihoods perspective, in order to recommend ways forward for both policymakers and practitioners concerned with its sustainable management. This requires bringing together biological and socio-economic perspectives, and reflecting on policy frameworks.

Until quite recently, most research on the bushmeat issue has been driven by conservation priorities, and livelihoods concerns have tended to be secondary and contingent. But the importance of bushmeat in range state economies requires that policy development takes the human dimension fully into account. Equally, if bushmeat projects are to link up with main themes;, of international policy, poverty, hunger, security, then a more development-centred focus will be required. This will involve situating the hunting and the harvest of wild meat within the setting of the rural economy, and understanding the linkages between local livelihoods and national and regional patterns of trade.

To date, the record on reconciling conservation and development agendas has not been strong. Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and attempts to develop alternative income generating strategies to substitute for hunting have rarely had a major impact either on the condition of the resource or the welfare of hunting communities. Non-consumptive alternatives, such as tourism and sports hunting, have been widely promoted as alternatives, though neither has fulfilled its promise. Lack of infrastructure and access, and high levels of insecurity for locals and travellers alike, have limited the appeal and added to the fragility of the local livelihoods. Except in a few celebrated cases, there does not appear to be much prospect of a radical transformation of producer economies by such means, except in the very long term. Arguably, the attempt to reconcile conservation and development has produced solutions which have been to the satisfaction of neither constituency, and with little prospect of long-term sustainability.

All things considered, therefore, the resolution of the ‘bushmeat crisis’ is likely to lie more in the control and management of the sub-sector itself than in attempts to transcend it. The starting point must be the actual dynamics of the bushmeat economy, as a productive sector, and the role which a more managed and controlled offtake might have in both conserving the resource and providing for the welfare of the human populations that depend on it.

For this to be done effectively requires more information on such issues as:

The conference provided an opportunity to explore the differences in perspective which arise when the human dimension is brought to the fore, and priority is given to livelihoods, economic and socio-cultural concerns. It was pan-tropical in coverage, with some emphasis on West Africa and the Congo Basin. Experience was shared both intra-regionally and across continents (Africa, Latin America-Caribbean, Asia-Pacific). The main, though not exclusive, emphasis was on mammals in tropical moist forests, for it is here that the conservation challenges are greatest.