Uni experts part of wild meat study

The hunting and trade of wild animals for meat is a threat to global sustainability that should be managed on the same scale as deforestation, say Stirling University researchers.

Academics from 45 institutions across 16 countries have published 16 papers in a special edition of the African Journal of Ecology to draw attention to the impact of wild meat on biodiversity, and to call for effective monitoring and intervention strategies at a local and global scale.

Professor of Tropical Ecology at the University of Stirling, Kate Abernethy, who is editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Ecology, said:“if people hunt faster than their prey can reproduce, then we are pushing declines in those species and others in the food chain. This impacts the ecosystems that support people’s livelihoods. It also increases vulnerability in the tropical forests we need to save, to help us fight climate change.”

The papers include exploration of illegal wildmeat in the urban restaurant trade in the

Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the online trade of mammals and reptiles in Algeria; the decline of large mammals in Benin; the historical importance of pangolins in Mali; and the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on pangolin trade in Cameroon.

Dr Daniel Ingram of the University of Stirling worked with others on the creation of a new open database listing interventions that have been used to reduce, or make sustainable, the hunting, consumption or trade of wild meat, starting with those conducted in Central Africa.

Dr Ingram said:“the problem is, details of interventions and their conservation and development outcomes often remain unpublished. As a result, there is a vast knowledge gap which stops researchers and practitioners from learning from the experiences and lessons of previous projects.

“Our wild meat interventions database aims to tackle that, in a way that all stakeholders can access and use.”