Title

The African Bushmeat Crisis: A Case for Global Partnership

Abstract

Across Central Africa a commercial, unsustainable, and largely illegal hunting and trade in wildlife for meat has expanded in recent years causing immediate threat to countless wildlife populations and species. Currently, multi-national agreements and government initiatives created to address the bushmeat crisis in the region are unable to halt the extensive destruction to the area’s unique biodiversity . Although many of these agreements strongly support addressing the bushmeat crisis, they lack the resources and capacity to be fully implemented. Strong U.S. engagement in a global partnership, arising from intensive, complete, and wide-ranging bipartisan commitment would greatly enhance existing international biodiversity conservation efforts that prioritize the bushmeat crisis as the leading biodiversity threat across all landscapes in the region. The bushmeat crisis is not isolated in Africa. It has the potential to affect Americans and global citizens through emergent disease transmission from a growing international trade. Addressing global health threats is further linked through the bushmeat trade by additional U.S. government goals to support global democracy and international economic development.

Disciplines

Animal Law | Environmental Law | International Law | Natural Resources Law

Date of this Version

September 2006