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Bushmeat Hunting Around Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Bushmeat Hunting Around Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo Bushmeat hunting around Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo R ODRIGUE B ATUMIKE,GERARD I MANI,CHRISTIAN U ROM and A IDA C UNI-SANCHEZ Abstract For most of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Introduction quantitative data on bushmeat exploitation are scarce. We conducted focus group discussions on preferred species n tropical forests, where wildlife biomass is lower than in for household consumption and income generation in Imore open habitats such as savannahs, overhunting of villages around Lomami National Park, created in . wild animals for their meat, often referred to as bushmeat, We also carried out a bushmeat market survey in Kindu, a may lead to the depletion of local populations and can con- major town in the study area, to estimate annual sales vo- tribute to the extinction of some species (Abernethy et al., lumes and retail values. Villagers reported household con- ). In Africa rising demand for bushmeat, related to sumption of mammal species, with the most important human population growth and increased affluence, has led being the African brush-tailed porcupine, Peters’s duiker, to a dramatic increase in bushmeat commercialization and bay duiker and red river hog. The latter three were also the hunting rates, threatening the populations of many targeted most important for income generation. A greater number species (Bennett et al., ). Overhunting can have cascad- of smaller species were consumed at the household level, ing effects in an ecosystem, affecting species not targeted for compared with those traded. A total of mammal and one bushmeat (e.g. large carnivores) and altering forest structure reptile species were traded in Kindu. Those traded in greater and composition because large mammals and birds are im- numbers were the African brush-tailed porcupine, blue portant dispersers of trees with large seeds (Wright et al., and bay duiker, red river hog, red-tailed monkey and the ; Maisels et al., ). Because of these cascading sitatunga. We estimated . , carcasses were traded in effects, overhunting can also affect forest carbon stocks Kindu annually, with a retail value of USD ,.Sev- (Brodie & Gibbs, ). In Africa unsustainable hunting eral species of conservation concern, such as the bonobo, of wild animals has been identified as the greatest threat were mentioned or observed. Few rodents and numerous to protected areas (Schulze et al., ). large animals were traded in Kindu, suggesting resources In all Central African countries bushmeat is a significant have not yet been depleted. However, both villagers and source of animal protein and is important for food security urban vendors perceived a decline of many species and (Fa et al., ). It is also often the only source of iron and fat reported an increase in the use of firearms and the number (Siren & Machoa, ; Golden et al., ). A recent study of foreign hunters in the area. Among other interventions, from Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo we discuss how local communities could be encouraged to (DRC) showed that both wealthy and impoverished urban help preserve wildlife in the Park’s buffer zone. households consume bushmeat for a variety of reasons, in- cluding low cost and taste preference (van Vliet et al., ). Keywords Bushmeat consumption, bushmeat trade, com- Apart from being a crucial source of food and nutrients, munities, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lomami bushmeat can also be an important source of income for National Park, rainforest, wildlife conservation rural communities (Fa et al., ; Mbete et al., ). Un- Supplementary material for this article is available at sustainable hunting of wild animals can thus negatively doi.org/./S affect the nutrition, food security and livelihoods of the people that depend on them. Two approaches are often used to indirectly infer the sustainability of bushmeat hunting in a given area: hunt- RODRIGUE BATUMIKE Département de Sciences de l’Environnement, Université ing profiles (e.g. distance travelled on hunting trips), and du Cinquantenaire Lwiro, Kabare, Suk-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo market profiles (e.g. the range of species traded and price GERARD IMANI (Corresponding author) Biology Department, Université changes; Fa et al., ). In West and Central Africa the Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo E-mail [email protected] latter approach has gained attention because markets are CHRISTIAN UROM Biology Department, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, highly visible (sale of most bushmeat is not illegal) and it Democratic Republic of the Congo is relatively easy to collect data on the animals for sale AIDA CUNI-SANCHEZ (Corresponding author, orcid.org/0000-0001-8619-1095) (Fa, ; Taylor et al., ). In areas with higher hunting York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems, Department of Environment and pressures fewer large-bodied animals are sold at markets, Geography, University of York, York, UK E-mail [email protected] and generally there is greater species diversity of the bush- Received March . Revision requested June . meat on offer (Cowlishaw et al., ; Fa, ). This is be- Accepted August . First published online March . cause smaller-bodied species such as large rodents and small This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, Downloadeddistribution, from https://www.cambridge.org/core and reproduction in any medium,. IP address: provided 170.106.35.93 the original work, onis 25 properly Sep 2021 cited. at 05:11:38, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/termsOryx, 2021, 55(3), 421–431 ©. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319001017The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001017 422 R. Batumike et al. duikers possess higher reproductive potentials and are thus more resilient to heavy hunting pressure (Dupain et al., ; Fa et al., ). Large rodents and small duikers also survive in more degraded habitats (Kümpel et al., ). Despite their advantages, market surveys have limitations: what reaches a market is often only a subset of the spe- cies hunted (Cowlishaw et al., ). Although large-bodied animals are generally sold at urban markets, smaller and less valuable animals are more likely to be consumed by the hunters (Allebone-Webb et al., ). Hunters may also consume animals that are in too poor a condition to be sold and may trade some animals at the village level. Therefore, understanding hunters’ household consumption is required to obtain a comprehensive view of bushmeat hunting in a given area. Lomami National Park was created in July , follow- ing a new law promulgated in DRC that considered sustain- able development of protected area edge communities. This new Park has a large buffer zone in which local communities are allowed to carry out certain extractive activities (includ- ing hunting) to satisfy their needs (Mushagalusa, ). To provide insights into current hunting patterns in this Park, we combined village surveys and a market survey in Kindu (the largest urban centre near this Park), aiming to answer the following three questions: () Which species are used for household consumption and trade? () What are the eco- nomic values and annual volumes traded in Kindu? ()Do local hunters or vendors perceive a decline of some spe- FIG. 1 Lomami National Park, major rivers, roads and towns, cies? Our relatively rapid assessment method can be of and villages sampled. Some villages are located next to each practical value to support conservation and sustainable use other and appear as one point on the map (we carried out of wildlife in Lomami National Park and other reserves in surveys in a total of villages). the Congo Basin. Methods Study area Village surveys The , km Lomami National Park has a buffer zone of We organized focus group discussions in villages located c. , km (Fig. ). Most of the area is covered by lowland around the southern part of the Park, which has more vil- semi-evergreen rainforests, evergreen rainforests dominated lages and is more easily accessible by road than the northern by limbali Gilbertiodendron dewevrei, swamp forests and part (Fig. ). Inhabitants belonged to six ethnic groups: savannahs. The climate is equatorial, with a mean annual Kusu, Kuti, Ngengele, Silwamba, Tetela and Mbote, each re- rainfall of c. , mm and mean monthly temperature of presented by four villages. Each focus group discussion – °C (ICCN, ). The dry season (June–July) lasts involved – village elders including the village chief, as is , months. The Park provides habitat for threatened customary in the area. After we explained the aim of the iconic species including the forest elephant Loxodonta study to the village chief, he explained it to the elders and africana cyclotis, bonobo Pan paniscus, okapi Okapia some decided to participate on a voluntary basis. All elders, johnstoni, Congo peafowl Afropavo congensis, the recently including the chiefs, were active hunters, as this is the major discovered dryas monkey Cercopithecus dryas, only previ- livelihood activity in the study area, and is culturally impor- ously known from Salonga National Park, and the newly tant. None of the villages studied have access to electricity, described lesula monkey Cercopithecus lomamiensis. The running water or the mobile phone network. There are main inhabitants
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