IT IS an alarming state of affairs: half the world鈥檚 primates and countless other endangered species face extinction through being hunted for food. But before judging the people who are usually blamed for this 鈥� the millions of Africans, Asians and South Americans who eat or sell bushmeat 鈥� it is worth considering the fate of the North American passenger pigeon. Once the most abundant bird that had ever existed, it took just 70 years for hunters to reduce its numbers from an estimated 5 billion to zero in 1900. Plenty of other North American species suffered a similar fate.
This week, in a report on the global bushmeat crisis, the independent research organisation the draws attention to that 19th-century slaughter in an effort to put the current crisis in perspective and to set the scene for a highly controversial proposal: instead of demanding an outright ban on bushmeat hunting, it envisages the hunters as part of a possible solution (see 鈥淪hould bushmeat hunting be legalised?鈥�).
The report argues that to stop people indiscriminately taking food that nature provides for free, it is essential to give them an incentive: a long-term stake in managing the resources available to them. Once empowered in this way, they will have good reason to ensure that animals they rely on for food are hunted sustainably, and that species that could attract ecotourism revenue are preserved.
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This is a refreshing outlook because it recognises that the conservation of animals and the well-being of local communities are inextricably linked. People generally hunt because they are hungry: in some places bushmeat provides most of their dietary protein and fat. It is little surprise, then, that banning hunting outright, which some governments have tried, has not worked.
Undoubtedly, CIFOR鈥檚 recommendations would be hard to put into practice. A major difficulty would be distinguishing between hunting for local sale and consumption, which CIFOR backs, and illegal 鈥渃ommercial鈥� hunting for export. Western governments and conservationists would also have to accept that if they want hunters to lay off certain species, they will have to pay them to do so, especially in places where ecotourism is not a possibility.
This month marks the start of the in many US states. Hunting has been sustainable there since the practice was first regulated in 1900. It is time to apply the principle in poorer countries. It will be a lot harder to enforce and monitor, but given the catastrophic failure of existing measures to halt the slaughter of endangered species for bushmeat, there is little other option.
Endangered species 鈥� Learn more about the conservation battle in our comprehensive special report.