EAZA Bushmeat Petition leads European Parliament to draft a report on illegal bushmeat trade in Central Africa
by Bryan Carroll, Chair, EAZA BWG & Deputy Director, Bristol Zoo Gardens
The European Parliament (EP) has finally addressed a bushmeat petition organized by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The petition expresses the concerns of two million Europeans regarding illegal hunting and trade for consumption of great apes, elephants and other threatened wildlife.
On 22 January 2003, the Petitions Committee of the EP had an hour-long debate about bushmeat, exactly one year after the petition was originally presented to the Committee. Acknowledging the importance of the problem of the illegal bushmeat trade, the Committee decided to submit an official report to the Parliament, to be debated in plenary session.
The Petitions Committee handles all petitions on behalf of the EP. It can’t force action, but it can arrange for issues to be heard, ask the Commission to reply to allegations or to provide information on what it has been doing in regard to issues, and ask for more formal reports. In our case the Committee asked the Commission to tell them what it had been doing to help reduce the bushmeat trade. Their scant reply was logged as an official response in the Committee proceedings, and a hearing on the matter was scheduled.
The hearing can, for some petitions, be the end of the line. The Committee can decide not to take the matter further. We were anxious that this should not be the case here, as it would effectively mean the European Union was just ignoring the issue. We wanted the Petitions Committee to conclude that a report to the whole Parliament was needed, which would be debated and certain resolutions adopted. At the hearing itself, representatives from the Commission reported on their activities, then I spoke on the issue followed by the Ambassadors of Cameroon and Gabon, and concluded by Hemmo Muntingh, representing IFAW. Jean Lambert, a UK MEP (Green Party) proposed that there should be a Petitions Committee Report to the Parliament on the issue, which ensures that the debate is carried forward. It keeps the bushmeat issue on the agenda, and it gives us a chance to influence the report that will be made and to influence the debate when the report goes to the Parliament.
In another major victory, the Commission announced at the Hearing that it was in the process of changing the regulations on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for development projects, in line with our recommendations presented in conjunction with the petition. EIAs will, in the future, have to take account of indirect effects on biodiversity, including the facilitation of hunting or transport of bushmeat in previously remote areas. One step forward at least.