Topic: the effects of poaching on wildlife populations.

Species involved: Currently poaching and unregulated hunting affects about a 1/3^rd of all threaten animals, and historically has been responsible for about 23% of all extinctions since the 1600’s.

Description of the problem:  while the loss of habitat will remain the primary threat to wildlife populations throughout the world, unsustainable hunting is taking a drastic toll on the biodiversity rich tropical rain forests. Of special concern is the Congo Basin of Africa and what has been dubbed the “Bush Meat Crises.” In recent decades logging has opened up the interior, providing improved infrastructure and transportation links between the hinterland and the urban centers. A commercial hunting trade has sprung up in its wake, providing fast growing cities with relatively cheap sources of protein. It has become a profitable enterprise, yet an unsustainable one. Currant harvest rates are 6 to 13 times the maximum levels, and if remain as high, supplies will decline as much as 81% in about 50 years. Leaving in its wake both extinctions and hunger.

Ecological prospective:  Widespread unregulated hunting has a range of problems imbedded in it. The obvious outcome of the continuous subtraction beyond reproductive rates of a species is eventually extinctions. In this regard it is easy to rally around the loss of a few majestic animals such as gorillas and rhinos; but it is much more constructive to think in holistic terms, species do not exist as solo entities but in states of complex relationships. So a loss of a species goes beyond itself, it has effects on the whole of the community. As you eliminate certain elements of the animal component you’ll drastically change the plant composition. Large seed trees will be reduced in range and abundance when their dispersing agents’ numbers are locally low or non-existent.  As well what foliage or seeds are eaten or what is trampled on all this determines the eventual make-up of the forest, without this interplay  between animals and plants that ecologically grew up together, what forest remains will be of drastically different character then the original. This is what is currently unfolding in places like Kilum-Ijum forest, in north-west Cameroon, which is now devoid of all animals larger than 200 grams. All the ungulates, primates, and large cats are gone, extirpated. To descried this tragic event, plant ecologist Dirzo has coined a term: defaunation- it is the local or global extinction of large vertebrates due to hunting and forest fragmentation. So it is in this context we must view things or as Dirzo puts it:

“It’s time not to think of extinctions of species or populations but ecological extinctions.” (Dirzo) Or- “The reduction of a species to such a low abundance, that although it is still present in the community, it no longer interacts significantly with other species. This is the cusp of the ecological prospective that unsustainable hunting causes.

Human prospective: Although this problem is worldwide we’re going to focus on the Congo Basin. Central Africans have derived a living off the forest for a millennium, it has only been in the last 20 years that unsustainable hunting levels have been reached. Due large part to a population boom but also to the fact the nature of hunting has changed from substance to market, it has become a comity, and comity viewed free for the taking.  But in this we cannot blame them. We are not too far removed from this mentality. Passenger pigeons sold for $0.25 a bushel in New York City not long ago. And Buffalo where to a large extant wiped out. We have to understand there are little alternatives sources of protein that are affordable at present.  And that the citizens live in extreme poverty. It is in this context you have to understand the crises. One Cameroon woman sums it up well: (3^rd person quot) “She’s aware that the trade severely endangers protected animals, but she needs the money to send her kids to school and to pay for medicine. That she is the sole income earner since her husband loss his job with the logging company.”  So it is out of necessity that sustains the trade.

Status of our Knowledge: Laws and education on the topic alone will not solve the problem. There are many pilot projects at work, aiming to find a pragmatic solution that involves the local inhabits: Community Markets for Conservation and Rural Livelihoods in Luangua Valley- Trying to implement better farming practices and gain accesses to markets along with improvement of wildlife habitats and watersheds. There is also an attempted being made to breed local wild animals, poetically the species with higher reproduction rates on wildlife farms. And there is also cash payment not to hunt. These are all small scale projects that need to be replicated on a expanded scale.

Conclusion:  This maybe an ecological issue but without taking care of the underline economic problem it will persist. Africa is not poor only its people are. The Democratic-Republic of the Congo while having a 75% poverty rate has 47% of all the world’s cobalt reserves, an important metal in electronics devices. It should derive taxes and royalties from this operation to fund education, healthcare, and a general diversification of its economy. Humans will remain the keystone species of all habitats and unless there basic needs are met little room will remain for all others.