Monkey carcass confiscated at an airport in Europe, with x-ray used to help confirm identification. © Anne-Lise Chaber.
Red List, Gentoo Penguins. © Ben Collen.
Red List, Antarctic fur sea. © Ben Collen.
In 2010/11, the Rufford Foundation provided grants totalling £128,208 to Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Working with Local Communities to Evaluate, Test and Implement Potential Bushmeat Alternatives in Equatorial Guinea
Previous funding from The Rufford Foundation helped ZSL launch a new project in Equatorial Guinea (EG) working with local communities to develop, test and implement alternatives to bushmeat.
Bushmeat is a complex issue with far reaching impacts on the culture, environment and livelihoods of indigenous people. In EG, as increased wealth has supported urban growth and an improved road network, so the demand for bushmeat has risen, threatening the country’s biodiversity and putting certain species at conservation risk. However over the past 2 years - with the involvement and support of 12 local communities and relevant government ministries - ZSL has made progress in finding sustainable alternatives.
This year’s grant from Rufford will enable ZSL to take this work to the next phase. Our research will focus on six different regions to compare livelihoods undertaken, incomes gained, food consumed and hunting activity. Alongside this, ZSL will work directly with local communities to identify preferences for and evaluate the economic viability of various livelihood options based on capacity required in terms of skills and training, cost and profit margins, access and proximity to markets as well as to available natural resources, including surrounding biodiversity.
Our research, long-term monitoring and ongoing dialogue with local communities means we will have a stronger knowledge base from which to promote feasible and acceptable alternatives to bushmeat hunting. Project findings will be shared through ZSL’s website and discussed at an EG multi-stakeholder workshop comprising representatives from government, local and international NGOs, industry representatives and potential funders.
Monitoring Bushmeat Imports from Africa to Europe
Bushmeat forms an important part of the local diet in many parts of Central and West Africa. However, as trade becomes commercialised, the market and demand for wild meat is increasing exponentially, extending not only across national but even continental boundaries.
A short survey, led by ZSL in 2008, indicated a huge volume of trade in bushmeat and other illegal meat imports from Africa to mainland Europe. This brings with it a potential health risk to humans and livestock through possible disease transmission; also with bushmeat hunting largely unregulated, a critical conservation threat to some species trafficked in this way. We need to better demonstrate the implications of both these factors and to provide policy makers with scientific evidence and practical tools to take control of this illegal and damaging trade.
The grant will enable ZSL to build on its preliminary survey. In 2011, ZSL will focus activity on airports in Europe and Ghana, working closely with government agencies, customs and wildlife authorities to check baggage for illegal meat and coordinate genetic analysis and disease screening of seized samples.
Project findings will help improve monitoring systems aimed at bushmeat detection, species and pathogen identification and in the long-term mitigate the problem by underpinning more effective law enforcement.
Sound Science for Sound Decision-making: Delivering the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ and Global Biodiversity indicators
This is a joint project between the ZSL and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ and associated website is now used by millions of people in more than 80 countries to access authoritative information on the conservation status of the planet’s species and in particular to measure loss and trends in our global biodiversity.
This year, The Rufford Foundation has supported new research to update the Red List, increase the number of species assessed and at the same time to develop key aspects of this trend data for use in particular areas of conservation and related policy.
In tandem with research, ZSL continues to work hard at raising the profile and significance of the Red List amongst key stakeholders and decision makers in government and policy. By way of example, in 2010 - International Year of Biodiversity - we produced Evolution Lost, a new report highlighting the status of the world’s vertebrate classes along with trends, key threats to and examples of conservation strategies that have helped mitigate against loss. By releasing this report at the Convention on Biological Diversity during the 10th Conference of Parties in Nagoya, ZSL achieved high media impact and reached a high level audience tasked with agreeing future action on biodiversity along with post 2010 biodiversity targets and indicators.
