Recipes for Survival_English_tcm46-28192

Actions ongoing andtheir effectiveness5.1 General actions ongoing and their effectiveness5.1.1 Government and policy5.1.1.1 AfricaThe CITES Bushmeat Working Group (CITES BWG) has developed National BushmeatStrategies and Action Plans for three of the six Central African countries (Cameroon,Gabon and the Republic of Congo). The Government of the Republic of Congo hassince validated and adopted its National Strategy and is now seeking funding forimplementation (CITES, 2004).CITES BWG also investigated wildlife laws and regulations in Central Africa, and thefindings of the study were adopted by all six countries. This study now serves as thebasis for review of national wildlife legislation, and some countries (Cameroon and theRepublic of Congo) are now reviewing and re-adjusting existing wildlife laws.CITES BWG was instrumental in the inclusion of bushmeat-related issues into the FinalCommuniqué of the 32 Ministers of the Africa Forest and Law Enforcement andGovernance ministerial conference held in Yaoundé, Cameroon (CITES, 2004).CITES BWG has developed partnerships with regional biodiversity conservationinitiatives to integrate the bushmeat problem into Central African agenda (Agnagna,2002). The crisis proportions of the bushmeat problem are now being mainstreamedinto the Yaoundé Summit process through the Conférence sur les Ecosystèmes deForêts Denses et Humides d’Afrique Centrale (CEFDHAC), the Organisation for theConservation of Wildlife in Africa (OCFSA), the Council of Ministers for Forests ofCentral Africa (COMIFAC) and the Agency for the Development of EnvironmentalInformation (ADIE), thanks to the effective lobbying by CITES BWG. Ministers of theregion have strengthened the role of OCFSA as a direct result of this lobbying(CITES, 2004).The IUCN Regional Office for Central Africa (ROCA) is addressing the bushmeat problemin response to a resolution adopted by the IUCN in October 2000 and has become aACTIONS ONGOING5Opposite: Blackfrontedduiker,Rwanda61© Ian Redmond