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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.

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The traditional utilization of wild food plants by the Suiei Dorobo of the Mathew's Range, northern Kenya, is described and analyzed in relation to the vegetation.(1) The vegetation of the Mathew's Range is described as being characterized by medium and drier types of montane forest and Mimosoideae savanna.(2) One hundred and twenty-two food plant species of the Suiei Dorobo are listed and graded into 1) major food, 2) important food and 3) complementary food, according to the relative importance in the traditional diet. Seasonal changes of ten major foods are also shown. (3) The food plants are classified into 1) forest type, 2) savanna type and 3) common type, in order to evaluate the vegetation from the viewpoint of food availability. It is concluded that the savanna is richer than the forest in the availability of the plant foods and game. (4) A comparison of vegetable foods of African hunter-gatherers is made by employing ITANI's classification (1974a) of African hunter-gatherers and vegetation types. The result is that the major vegetable foods of African hunter-gatherers roughly correspond to the vegetation types.

Unlike the Sudano-sahelian regions, which are confronted to severe periods of food shortage, tropical rainforests are known to provide a constant supply of a great diversity of food resources that mitigates the risk of food starvation for omnivorous humans. Nevertheless, several African forest ethnic groups suffer from a seasonal hunger induced by depletion in the procurement of bushmeat, which is a food of paramount importance. Although the diet remains well balanced and meets all the nutritional needs, the bushmeat cravers loose weight and experience a stress that affects their well-being. Bushmeat hunger is a psychocultural form of hunger that generates several mental disorders. We present results from nutritional anthropology studies carried out among various Congo Basin forest peoples, which regularly suffer from bushmeat hunger. We expose the physiological risks that result from this psychological unrest, we argue that this type of unsatisfied compiling desire for meat should be considered as a factor of food insecurity and we conclude on its incidence on bushmeat trade. The immoderate craving for bushmeat compromises the attempts to replace bushmeat by other sources of meat and is a persisting obstacle to conservation initiatives that fail to take the psychocultural values of bushmeat into consideration.