While "Pygmy" hunter-gatherers have generally been assumed to be the original inhabitants of the central African rainforest, recent studies dispute the viability of subsistence in tropical rainforests through foraging alone. There are, however, few studies that are based on sound data of actual long-term foraging. This paper examines the viability of "pure" foraging in tropical rainforests, based on data from participant observation of a long-term foraging expedition among the Baka in the northwestern Congo Basin. The group was observed to subsist solely on wild food resources, particularly wild yams, for two-and-half months. The study was carried out during the dry season when food resources are generally thought to be scarce in tropical rainforests.

Pygmy populations occupy a vast territory extending west-to-east along the central African belt from the Congo Basin to Lake Victoria. However, their numbers and actual distribution is not known precisely. Here, we undertake this task by using locational data and population sizes for an unprecedented number of known Pygmy camps and settlements (n = 654) in five of the nine countries where currently distributed. With these data we develop spatial distribution models based on the favourability function, which distinguish areas with favourable environmental conditions from those less suitable for Pygmy presence. Highly favourable areas were significantly explained by presence of tropical forests, and by lower human pressure variables. For documented Pygmy settlements, we use the relationship between observed population sizes and predicted favourability values to estimate the total Pygmy population throughout Central Africa. We estimate that around 920,000 Pygmies (over 60% in DRC) is possible within favourable forest areas in Central Africa. We argue that fragmentation of the existing Pygmy populations, alongside pressure from extractive industries and sometimes conflict with conservation areas, endanger their future. There is an urgent need to inform policies that can mitigate against future external threats to these indigenous peoples’ culture and lifestyles.

. 2015. Changes in the composition of hunting catches in southeastern Cameroon: a promising approach for collaborative wildlife management between ecologists and local hunters. Ecology and Society 20 (4) ABSTRACT. In recent years, both depletion of wild animals and declining food supply have threatened the livelihoods of people inhabiting the forests of the Congo Basin, and rendered the bushmeat trade a national and global concern. Because initial approaches to wildlife management were criticized for lacking consideration of the customary rights of local people, a variety of projects have been proposed to ensure their active participation in management initiatives. However, unfamiliar with the concepts of conservation ecology, local people have found it difficult to contribute effectively. This paper proposes an approach to monitor the status of fauna, based on the ratio of blue duikers (Philantomba monticola) to medium-sized duikers (Cephalophus spp.) for the total number of hunting catches (the catch B/M). Analysis of changes in the composition of hunting catches across multiple sites in southeastern Cameroon revealed the following trends: (1) without substantive human intervention, i.e., hunting pressure and forest disturbance, medium-sized duikers were densely distributed while blue duikers were sparse, so that the catch B/M was low; (2) under moderate human intervention, blue duikers became more densely distributed while the original density of medium-sized duikers was maintained, so that the catch B/ M increased; (3) with extensive human intervention in specific areas, medium-sized duikers became sparsely distributed while a relatively high density of blue duikers was maintained, so that the catch B/M increased significantly and a mosaic of different compositions of duikers was formed; and (4) with extensive human intervention extending over the specific extensive area, both medium-sized and blue duikers became sparse. It appears that the catch B/M predicts changes in the status of game animals and of the background wild fauna, and is both a sufficiently reliable variable for ecologists and perceptible for local people. Furthermore, this approach has the potential to cultivate a relationship of trust between ecologists and local people, which is indispensable in establishing effective collaborative wildlife management.

We use data on game harvest from 60 Pygmy and non-Pygmy settlements in the Congo Basin forests to examine whether hunting patterns and prey profiles differ between the two hunter groups. For each group, we calculate hunted animal numbers and biomass available per inhabitant, P, per year (harvest rates) and killed per hunter, H, per year (extraction rates). We assess the impact of hunting of both hunter groups from estimates of numbers and biomass of prey species killed per square kilometre, and by examining the proportion of hunted taxa of low, medium and high population growth rates as a measure of their vulnerability to overhunting. We then map harvested biomass (kg-1P-1Yr-1) of bushmeat by Pygmies and non-Pygmies throughout the Congo Basin. Hunting patterns differ between Pygmies and non-Pygmies; Pygmies take larger and different prey and non-Pygmies sell more for profit. We show that non-Pygmies have a potentially more severe impact on prey populations than Pygmies. This is because non-Pygmies hunt a wider range of species, and twice as many animals are taken per square kilometre. Moreover, in non-Pygmy settlements there was a larger proportion of game taken of low population growth rate. Our harvest map shows that the non-Pygmy population may be responsible for 27 times more animals harvested than the Pygmy population. Such differences indicate that the intense competition that may arise from the more widespread commercial hunting by non-Pygmies is a far more important constraint and source of conflict than are protected areas.

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