Wild animals are captured or taken opportunistically, and the meat, body parts, and/or eggs are consumed for local subsistence or used for traditional purposes to some extent across most of the world, particularly in the tropics and subtropics. The consumption of aquatic animals is widespread, in some places has been sustained for millennia, and can be an important source of nutrition, income, and cultural identity to communities. Yet, economic opportunities to exploit wildlife at higher levels have led to unsustainable exploitation of some species. In the literature, there has been limited focus on the exploitation of aquatic non-fish animals for food and other purposes. Understanding the scope and potential threat of aquatic wild meat exploitation is an important first step toward appropriate inclusion on the international policy and conservation management agenda. Here, we conduct a review of the literature, and present an overview of the contemporary use of aquatic megafauna (cetaceans, sirenians, chelonians, and crocodylians) in the global tropics and subtropics, for species listed on the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). We find that consumption of aquatic megafauna is widespread in coastal regions, although to varying degrees, and that some species are likely to be at risk from overexploitation, particularly riverine megafauna. Finally, we provide recommendations for CMS in the context of the mandate of the Aquatic Wild Meat Working Group.
Tag: consumption
Impacts of Taking, Trade and Consumption of Terrestrial Migratory Species for Wild Meat
This report – the first of its kind – identifies the impacts of wild meat taking, trade and consumption of terrestrial species that are protected by CMS. It puts a spotlight on species such as antelopes, primates, and carnivores and points to the need for greater attention to the taking of globally protected wildlife purely for domestic use as opposed to international trade. The study also highlights the need to assess national legislation and enforcement capacity, as well as the linkages between zoonotic diseases and wild meat.
Prepared for the CMS Secretariat by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), this publication is a significant first step towards closing the knowledge gap on the impacts of such use of migratory species of wild animals.
The aim of this report is to contribute to the implementation of CMS Decision 13.109 – Addressing Unsustainable Use of Terrestrial and Avian Wild Meat of Migratory Species of Wild Animals – by assessing, the direct and indirect impacts of wild meat taking, trade and consumption for each of the CMS terrestrial mammal species covered by CMS Appendices I and / or II, as well as the following species: Gazella bennettii, Pantholops hodgsonii, and Procapra picticaudata (all under CMS Central Asian Mammals Initiative); and Myotis aurascens, Otonycteris hemprichii, Plecotus kolombatovici, Plecotus macrobullaris, Plecotus sardus, Rousettus aegyptiacus, and Taphozous nudiventris (all listed under the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS)).
Dietary diversity and fish consumption of mothers and their children in fisher households in Komodo District, eastern Indonesia
Small-scale coastal fisheries contribute directly and indirectly to the food and nutrition security of marine-dependent households. Fishers can apportion part of their catch for household consumption or use the income earned to purchase staples and other desired foods. Fish are an important animal-source food rich in micronutrients essential for cognitive development of children and for adult health, and a valuable addition to rice-based diets. Furthermore, the engagement of women in fisheries value chains and increased control over income may facilitate decision-making which improves nutrition outcomes for women and their children. Despite these contributions, food insecurity remains prevalent in many low and middle income fish-producing countries. This paper reports findings from an exploration of the interplaying factors leading to food and nutrition insecurity in three marine-dependent coastal communities in eastern Indonesia, focusing on the consumption pathway, that is, the contribution of fish to the diets and nutrition of women and children. The research was undertaken as a mixed-methods case study. The study found that over 50% of mother-child pairs failed to meet the minimum recommended dietary diversity, and, while fish was the main animal-source food in diets, the introduction of fish to infant and young child diets was delayed due to fears of allergies and illnesses. Moreover, access to nutrient-dense foods was affected by variable and insufficient income from fisheries-based livelihoods, isolation from markets, and the broader food environment. Given the shift towards ‘nutrition-sensitive interventions’ to improve the livelihoods and well-being of fisher households, these results highlight the need for analysis of the intra-household sharing of fish within fisher households, culturally-appropriate strategies to improve the quality of family and especially complementary foods, and efforts to increase physical access to nutrient-dense foods.
The environmental, socioeconomic, and health impacts of woodfuel value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic map
Background
In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the production and use of woodfuel remains an important socio-economic activity with more than 70% of the population relying on woodfuel as their primary household energy source. Despite their socio-economic significance, woodfuel value chains are often viewed negatively due to their association with detrimental health and environmental impacts. However, the lack of sound evidence and limited understanding of the role of contextual factors in influencing the various impacts of woodfuel value chains have prevented the formulation of properly guided policy interventions. Thus the objective of this systematic map is to provide a comprehensive review of the environmental, socio-economic, and health impacts of woodfuel value chains across SSA.
Methods
The search strategy for this review map was defined in a peer-reviewed protocol and refined by iterative testing. Search strings were composed of population, intervention, and location terms and combined using Boolean operators. The bibliographic databases Web of Science, Scopus, and CAB Abstracts were used as the main sources of literature for this review, and a total of 4728 results were initially retrieved. Following title and abstract screening, 659 entered full text screening. Critical appraisal of 219 articles led to the exclusion of studies that did not set meet quality criteria for this map, resulting in a final total of 131 articles for inclusion in data extraction and analysis.
Results
From the 131 included articles, 152 individual studies were identified during data extraction. Studies came from 26 of the 49 Sub Saharan African countries, with a particular preponderance of articles published in the last 10 years. Critical appraisal found significant weaknesses in the experimental design of woodfuel value chain studies with the exception of health impact studies, which frequently utilized controls or other relevant comparators. Findings suggest that woodfuel value chains have environmental, socioeconomic and health consequences with the frequent presence of trade-offs. The reporting of contextual factors in the studies challenge the widespread perception of deforestation as being directly caused by bush fires, overgrazing and woodcutting. Instead, agricultural expansion (which often includes forest clearing) and pre-existing biophysical factors were the most frequently cited factors in shaping environmental outcomes.
Conclusions
This systematic map suggests that there are environmental, socioeconomic and health consequences associated with woodfuel value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the literature also shows a weak and geographically limited evidence base to justify the above claims. We argue that policy formulation processes targeting woodfuels in SSA require more solid, coherent and broad body of knowledge, especially for such a vital sector in rural economies. Thus, there is an urgent need to design and undertake research using robust methodologies, at appropriate scales that further takes into account the interrelationships between environmental and socio-economic outcomes in order to generate substantial and reliable evidence for informed policy formulation.
Chapter 12 – SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production – Potential Benefits and Impacts on Forests and Livelihoods
This chapter identifies and analyses the potential impacts and contributions of efforts to achieve SDG 12 Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) on forests and their conservation, sustainable management and use, as well as forest livelihoods. SCP has been part of the international policy discourse for more than four decades, but the uptake of SCP has not been smooth and has tended to be biased towards relatively weak measures. The inclusion of SCP in the SDG framework gives hope that SCP will receive stronger attention in the international efforts for sustainable development. Although SDG 12 targets or indicators make no direct reference to forests or forest communities, the chapter finds that SDG12 targets can contribute positively to forest protection and conservation efforts. The review of the SDG 12 targets does not point towards any direct trade-offs between achieving the SDG12 targets and protection of forest ecosystems, resources and livelihoods. SDG 12 can contribute to creating enabling conditions for advancing more responsible and sustainable supply of timber and other forest commodities, also linked to more responsible demand. To enhance forest conservation and livelihoods through SCP beyond 2030, an integrative SCP approach addressing systemic issues is needed.
The palm oil global value chain: Implications for economic growth and socialand environmental sustainability
There is abundant literature focusing on the palm oil sector, which has grown into a vigorous sector with production originating mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, and on increased palm oil consumption in many countries around the globe, particularly European Union states, China and India. This sector expansion has become quite controversial, because while it has negative social and environmental impacts, it also leads to positive benefits in generating fiscal earnings for producing countries and regular income streams for a large number of large- and small-scale growers involved in palm oil production. This document reviews how the social, ecological, and environmental dynamics and associated implications of the global palm oil sector have grown in complexity over time, and examines the policy and institutional factors affecting the sector’s development at the global and national levels.
This work examines the geographies of production, consumption and trade of palm oil and its derivatives, and describes the structure of the global palm oil value chain, with special emphasis on Malaysia and Indonesia. In addition, this work reviews the main socioenvironmental impacts and trade-offs associated with the palm oil sector’s expansion, with a primary focus on Indonesia. The main interest is on the social impacts this has on local populations, smallholders and workers, as well as the environmental impacts on deforestation and their associated effects on carbon emissions and biodiversity loss. Finally, the growing complexity of the global oil palm value chain has also driven diverse types of developments in the complex oil palm policy regime governing the sector’s expansion. This work assesses the main features of this emerging policy regime involving public and private actors, with emphasis on Indonesia.
There are multiple efforts supporting the transition to a more sustainable palm oil production; yet the lack of a coordinated public policy, effective incentives and consistent enforcement is clear and obvious. The emergence of numerous privately driven initiatives with greater involvement of civil society organizations brings new opportunities for enhancing the sector’s governance; yet the uptake of voluntary standards remains slow, and any push for the adoption of more stringent standards may only widen the gap between large corporations and medium- and smallscale growers. Greater harmonization between voluntary and mandatory standards, as well as among private initiatives is required. Commitments to deforestation-free supply chains have the potential to reduce undesired environmental impacts from oil palm expansion, and while this risks excluding smallholders from the supply chains, such commitments may function to leverage the upgrading of smallholder production systems. Their success, however, will require greater public and private sector collaboration.
Impact of a Media Campaign on Consumers’ Purchasing Intentions of Legal Timber in Cameroon
Illegal logging is a key driver of deforestation in tropical countries and benefits a large number of stakeholders, including urban domestic buyers. Changing the latter’s purchasing behavior could produce significant shifts in the illegal trade market. Based on survey data (n= 463), this paper assesses the impact of a media campaign on consumers’ purchase intentions for legal timber and wooden furniture in Yaoundé and analyses the underlying psychological mechanisms. Combining covariate matching and mediation analysis, we found a significant positive effect of the media campaign on the declared intention to purchase legally-sourced timber and the mediation effect of two out of three precursors of the theory of planned behaviors, namely attitude and subjective norms. This study provides critical inputs to frame future media campaign messages and, by demonstrating some consumers’ interest in legal timber, to strengthen the domestic legitimacy of policies such as the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade.