Recipes for Survival_English_tcm46-28192

RECIPES FOR SURVIVALto hunters and traders, and will diminish the resources of governments enforcingprotection (Kümpel, 2005). But unless the situation is taken in hand, the nextgeneration will pay long-term livelihood costs.Food security and livelihoods need to be given just as much priority as wildlifeconservation. Sustainable, legal hunting programmes for local communities will ensurea long-term, wildlife-based resource is available to maintain livelihoods and quality of lifefor traditional forest people (Elkan, 2002).The burden of responsibility cannot be placed on poor countries, where the crisisoriginates, because wealthy nations have just as much impact. Internationalco-operation is now urgently needed to prevent local extinctions becoming regionalones. Efforts aimed at tackling root causes to provide across-the-board benefits forall hunted species are crucial.Over the past decade, the urgency of the bushmeat crisis has brought to light manyuseful suggestions for curbing the anticipated extinction of commercially huntedspecies. But the momentum needed for their success can only be mobilised byinternational commitment to enormous investment and national commitment toa shift in attitudes.A collaborative effort is needed, with the support of communities, landowners,government agencies, NGOs, media, private citizens, wildlife services and interestedindividuals, drawing together expertise from many different disciplines to implementand monitor effective strategies.Novel solutions are crucial to build upon the successes of old ones, necessitatinginnovations in policy reform, capacity building, sustainable investment, long-termsupport for protected areas, regulation of hunting and trade, development of economicand dietary alternatives, management efforts in logging and mining concessions andwidespread education/awareness programmes.A holistic conservation approach needs to consider the economic, geographic,political, cultural and social scale of the problem. Active commitment from thecountries involved is a prerequisite to the success of conservation strategies,whether local or international.Across the globe, forests are being treated as convertible, rather than renewableresources. The consequences of the bushmeat trade for endangered species,biodiversity and people are no longer in doubt – unless a concerted, multifacetedeffort, equal in gravity to the severity of the crisis is initiated, the ‘empty forestsyndrome’ will be realised in the foreseeable future.9.2 Primate-specific conclusionsIt has often been noted that if we can’t save our closest evolutionary ‘cousins’ fromextinction, there can be little hope for more distantly related species. Great apes, asflagship species, have the greatest potential for mobilising action and funding frompublic and institutional bodies. Their command of public sympathy makes them goodcandidates for promoting awareness of the bushmeat crisis. But it is important torecognise that statements such as these, while accurate, could demean the broaderbushmeat problem or brand other species with subordinate levels of concern.The vast majority of bushmeat is of non-primate origin, and evidence suggestsextinction is more likely in non-primate groups (Bowen-Jones & Pendry, 1999; Bennett& Rao, 2002, cited by McGowan & Garson, 2002). Conservation strategies thatperipheralise the cross-taxonomic scope of the problem would be both negligent andirresponsible. Rather, apes can be used as a vehicle to engender support for broaderconservation efforts and the ecosystem in general.Time is running out for great apes. Their future rests on the commitment of the currentgeneration. Either we seize the opportunity to preserve our closest kin or we allowthem to be hunted to extinction – an action that, inevitably, will mark us as a historicallyirresponsible generation.“The plight of Africa’s people bears comparison to no one else for poverty, diseaseand repression. But allowing chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos to die won’t improvepeople’s lives; it will impoverish them. Saving them would cost peanuts compared withrescuing destitute people.” (Richard Leakey, cited by Black, 2004).The signing of the Kinshasa Declaration brings new hope for the great apes and theirhabitats. The governments, NGOs and UN agencies that signed it agreed to work withina global strategy to ensure that 112 priority populations of all taxa of great apes, in 94sites (some of which are trans-boundary), receive the protection they need to survive.If these fine words are turned into action on the ground, the future of the great apeswill finally be assured.CONCLUSIONS101WSPA/APE ALLIANCE100