Bushmeat Database

The searchable Bushmeat Database contains more than 700 citations, including peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters, technical papers, reports and conference proceedings. Citations include direct DOI-based links to the articles on the original journal or publisher’s website. To see the data displayed in a visual format, visit the Bushmeat Data Map.

Bushmeat and food security in the Congo Basin: linkages between wildlife and people’s future
Author
Author	Fa, John E; CURRIE, DOMINIC; MEEUWIG, JESSICA
Year
Year	2003
Secondary Title
Secondary Title	Environmental Conservation
Volume
Volume
Pages
Pages	1-8
Abstract
Abstract	Tropical moist forests in Africa are concentrated in the Congo Basin. A variety of animals in these forests, in particular mammals, are hunted for their meat, termed bushmeat. This paper investigates current and future trends of bushmeat protein, and non-bushmeat protein supply, for inhabitants of the main Congo Basin countries. Since most bushmeat is derived from forest mammals, published extraction (E) and produc- tion (P) estimates of mammal populations were used to calculate the per person protein supplied by these. Current bushmeat protein supply may range from 30 g person????1 day????1 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to 180g person????1 day????1 in Gabon. Future bushmeat protein supplies were predicted for the next 50 years by employing current E:P ratios, and controlling for known deforestation and population growth rates. At current exploitation rates, bushmeat protein supply would drop 81% in all countries in less than 50 years; only three countries would be able to maintain a protein supply above the recommended daily require- ment of 52g person????1 day????1. However, if bushmeat harvests were reduced to a sustainable level, all coun- tries except Gabon would be dramatically affected by the loss of wild protein supply. The dependence on bushmeat protein is emphasized by the fact that four out of the five countries studied do not produce suffi- cient amounts of non-bushmeat protein to feed their populations. These findings imply that a significant number of forest mammals could become extinct rela- tively soon, and that protein malnutrition is likely to increase dramatically if food security in the region is not promptly resolved.
DOI
DOI

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