Blanket Ban on Bush MeatOpposed in New United Nations Report

Despite growing evidence that bush meat poaching is endangering primates and other animals in Africa, a new report says the best way to tackle the problem is not by imposing an outright ban but by encouraging sustainable hunting of rapidly reproducing species, such as wild rodents. The report, prepared for the U.N. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, says that criminalizing bush meat hunting would simply drive it underground and exacerbate a crisis that could lead to the extinction of numerous species within 50 years. Rather, the report suggested that countries should decriminalize hunting for certain species, give incentives to communities to hunt those species sustainably, and enforce strict bans on killing gorillas, elephants, and other endangered species. Bush meat provides up to 80 percent of the protein and fat eaten by Africans in many rural areas. In central Africa alone, the annual bush meat harvest is estimated at one million metric tons, equivalent to 4 million head of cattle.