A National Bushmeat Strategy for Gabon

Gabon is currently in the process of developing a framework for addressing bushmeat hunting and trade throughout the country. The first step in this process was a formulation workshop, held 3-7 December 2002 in Lopé National Park, and organized by the Ministry for Forestry Economics, Water and Fishing (MENEF), and the Manager of Environment and Nature conservation, with financial and technical support from the FAO. Participants shared information on themes as diverse as the size and potential of the wildlife resource, the problems associated with the bushmeat trade, and initiatives promoting sustainable wildlife management. They then split into two working groups: wildlife management and bushmeat marketing. The overall goal of discussions was to determine how Gabon’s wildlife could be managed in a participative, rational and sustainable manner so that it continues to fulfill its ecological, social, cultural and economic functions.

The workshop resulted in the following recommendations for inclusion in the strategy:

• Evaluate and monitor the wildlife resource

• Educate the public on wildlife legislation

• Improve living conditions and motivation for wildlife protection agents

• Promote alternatives to hunting and reduce poverty in rural areas

• Promote breeding of game species

• Organize public awareness campaigns directed at the whole population, urban and rural, rich and poor

• Draft a text which sets up a Director and/or Office of Wildlife Management

• Develop local (provincial) enforcement brigades

• Legally define the jurisdiction of eco-guard

• Draft a text which authorizes the destruction of weapons confiscated from poachers

• Put in place monitoring stations in sensitive areas

• Improve the capacity of MENEF to hire and train a sufficient number of agents

• Put in place a framework for participatory, multi-party dialogue

• Improve the institutional, human and financial capacity of relevant departments

• Better regulate the sale and distribution of weapons and ammunition

• Stop transport of bushmeat on the Transgabonais railroad and other methods of transport

• Stop transport of bushmeat from forest logging concessions

• Assign value to wildlife products based on cultural and economic indicators, in agreement with ratified laws and International Conventions

• Recognize the value of bushmeat as part of the informal economy in villages, and the need to maintain this resource

• Promote sustainable village hunting through good management and no-hunting forest zones

• Request international support and mechanisms for national financing (e.g., forest and airport taxes) to pay for these efforts.

A second workshop was convened 30-31 July 2003 by the Ministry of Wildlife and Hunting, in association with the Department of Forests of the FAO. The general objective was to validate the national bushmeat strategy drafted after the formulation workshop, and to elaborate the mechanisms of its financing subject to the approval of the Gabonese Government. The results of this second meeting and a final strategy are not yet available.

Sources: Rapport Final: Atelier sur la gestion de la viande de brousse. Lopé, 3 – 7 décembre 2002; Herve Ndong Allogho, pers. comm., June 2003