Gorilla ambassador demands bushmeat controls

By: Paula Scheidt Manoel on October 29th, 2009

UN ambassador for the International Year of Gorillas, Ian Redmond, said during the World Forestry Congress that protecting animals and stopping bushmeat are not a matter of choice, but are actually essential to guarantee forest preservation.

“Forests don’t have biodiversity, they are biodiversity. Because of it, if we take the animals, we are removing a very important piece of the forest life circle,” he said.

Animals are important for spreading seeds as many of them can’t germinate if they didn’t pass through the digestion process of species such as gorillas or birds. According to Redmond, famous for his research with primates in Africa, 75% of forest depends on animals to keep it species riches and, maintain the natural cycle.

And more biodiversity, he emphasize, means a bigger capacity for the forest to deal with adverse situations, such as changes in the rain patterns that can happen because of global warming.

But, hunting for bushmeat contributes strongly to the extinction or significant reduction of some species. But in a number of tropical countries it is also an important source of protein for people.

“In at least 62 countries, wild animals and fish constitute a minimum of 20% of the animal protein in rural diets”, says a bushmeat study by the UN Biodiversity Convention.

In Central Africa alone, 30% to 80% of the total protein ingested by farmers comes from hunting. Redmond explains that in places where there is a market for this meat nearby, it stimulates hunting.

“The trade in bushmeat is leaving our forests empty. My hope is that some explicit statement about it would be made by countries if they decide to include a payment for the carbon store in the forests in the new climate deal”, highlighted Redmond.

A new agreement to control global warming is expected to be sealed at a United Nations summit this December in Copenhagen. One of the key points being negotiated is a mechanism to reduce the deforestation in developing countries through the payment for forest protection from developed nations.

Deforestation is highlighted by a global community of scientists as responsible for 17.4% of total greenhouse emissions, which they say is the main cause of the increase of temperatures. “It’s represents 5.86 billion tons of carbon dioxide, as much as is emitted by the United States or China per year”, says Tiina Vahanen, from the UN REDD Secretariat.