Preferences and present demand for bushmeat in north Cameroon: some implications for wildlife conservation

Abstract

SummaryAlthough bushmeat is known locally to be an important source of protein, large-scale patterns of demand are poorly defined. One area for which information is especially lacking is northern Cameroon, and this study therefore conducted a survey of 345 households in this region. Information sought from questionnaire interviews included the frequency of consumption, species preferences, and prices of bushmeat, together with people's perceptions of trends in the wildlife population involved. Bushmeat was estimated to represent c. 24% of the animal protein intake in the region and respondents generally preferred bushmeat to meat from domestic livestock. North African porcupine (Hystrix cristata) was the most preferred species, closely followed by guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), and Buffon's kob (Kobus kob). There was a tendency for the price of a kilogramme of bushmeat to decrease with the weight of the animal. A majority of the respondents said they perceived declines in some wild animal species within the last 10 years. For those who eat bushmeat one or more times a week, there was a tendency for villagers to eat more bushmeat than for people in towns. A number of measures should be taken, including wildlife farming and domestication and anti-poaching measures in national parks.

Economic and geographic drivers of wildlife consumption in rural Africa

“…This finding naturally raises the question of how access to alternative livelihoods influences the behavior of individuals currently engaged in hunting. Put another way, as the opportunity costs of time spent hunting increase, does it discourage wildlife harvest, as recent research suggests (13,14,(16)(17)(18)? In fact, wildlife management authorities and conservation organizations in Ghana, Tanzania, and other countries are known to target the most active local hunters for employment in nonhunting positions as a direct and efficient means of reducing harvest.…”

“…A second hypothesis, which we call the "bushmeat as normal good hypothesis," poses that the demand for bushmeat, like most household goods, increases as household wealth grows (5,(7)(8)(9)(11)(12)(13)(14). If true, the normal good hypothesis suggests that efforts for poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation may be opposed but also, that the local collapse of wildlife populations or their strict protection through conservation efforts may have only limited direct effects on rural livelihoods and food security.…”

“…Because those effects also matter and are correlated with spatial differences in wealth, it becomes easy to conflate different factors and mistakenly infer that greater bushmeat consumption in poorer rural areas is caused by rural poverty and thus, that economic development will naturally relax pressure on wildlife by reducing bushmeat demand. The complexity and fine-scale geographic variation are likely responsible for the incongruous results from studies that have explicitly examined the interactions of wealth, alternatives, and wildlife consumption in the tropics (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Indeed, the setting chosen by any given study may differ from others in many aspects, including local culture, population density, poverty, habitat, wildlife abundance, market access, and law enforcement.…”

Why People Eat Bushmeat: Results From Two-Choice, Taste Tests in Gabon, Central Africa

“…If, however, bushmeat is eaten because consumers prefer the taste of wildlife (Chardonnet et al, 1995;Trefon and de Maret, 1999), then demand may be less responsive to price changes and the meat of livestock may not be an acceptable substitute. Bushmeat may also be eaten to add variety to the diet and for special occasions because it has cultural significance (Njiforti, 1996). In this case, if bushmeat is only eaten irregularly, is not the primary source of dietary protein, and is not culturally significant, then allowing non-threatened species to be consumed but strictly enforcing laws to halt the hunting and trading of threatened and endangered species may be politically acceptable, and ecologically rational.…”

Managing bushmeat hunting in Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Because abundance of critical food and shelter tree species declines with tree clearing, loss of habitat is generally seen as the primary cause of reductions in densities of forestdependent animal species. However, recent data have shown that it is not deforestation but defaunation that poses the greatest immediate threat to animal conservation in the forests of the Congo Basin (Behra, 1989;Anstey, 1991;Lahm, 1993;Bennett Hennessey, 1995;Juste et al, 1995;Muchaal and Ngandjui, 1995;Noss, 1995;Njiforti, 1996). Bushmeat hunting for domestic consumption and for the market has the potential to deplete rapidly forest mammal, bird and reptile populations, in some cases to the point of extirpation (Caldecott, 1987;Geist, 1988;Alvard, 1993Alvard, , 1994Ludwig et al, 1993;Joanen et al, 1994;Chardonnet et al, 1995;Fitzgibbon et al, 1995).…”