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What is Bushmeat?
In Africa, forest is often referred to as 'the bush', thus wildlife and the meat derived from it is referred to as 'bushmeat'.The term bushmeat is now commonly used for illegally harvested and marketed wildlife in Africa, Asia and Latin America. “Bushmeat” applies to all wildlife species, including threatened and endangered species, used for meat including: elephant; gorilla; chimpanzee and other primates; forest antelope (duikers); crocodile; porcupine; bush pig; cane rat; pangolin; monitor lizard; guinea fowl and many others.
Unsustainable commercial take, many times illegally, is one of the primary causes in the decline of wildlife species in Africa. Though habitat loss is often cited as the primary threat to wildlife, commercial hunting for the meat of wild animals has become the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa and around the world; it has already resulted in widespread local extinctions in Asia and West Africa.
This threat to wildlife is a crisis because it is rapidly expanding to countries and species which were previously not at risk, largely due to an increase in commercial logging, with an infrastructure of roads and trucks that links forests and hunters to cities and consumers.
The bushmeat crisis is a human tragedy as well: the loss of wildlife threatens the livelihoods and food security of indigenous and rural populations as most depend on wildlife as a staple or supplement to their diet. Bushmeat consumption is increasingly linked to deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, Ebola, hantavirus, Monkeypox, SARS, and Foot and Mouth disease in rural populations and are quickly spread with the increased travel and movement of humans across the globe.
Rural communities have always hunted as a protein source for their diets. Sustainably managed, wildlife populations could survive under these circumstances. Today, wildlife is taken in large quantities not solely for personal consumption but for profit and commercial resale. Wildlife populations simply cannot rebound fast enough to maintain viable populations in these areas and are quickly becoming extirpated from many regions of Africa.
Nearly one million tonnes of bushmeat is taken from Central Africa alone every year. This is not simply an African problem. Potentially thousands of pounds of bushmeat are being smuggled into the US every year for 
sale and personal consumption. The region of Central and West Africa is virtually unparalleled in terms of the richness and diversity of its habitats, its flora and fauna, and its distinctive culture. It is also a region plagued with challenging economic issues, which lead to excess logging, mining, and commercial hunting in the form of poaching and the illegal bushmeat trade. All of these activities are contributing to today’s rampant deforestation and loss of wildlife in this ecologically fragile area.
sale and personal consumption. The region of Central and West Africa is virtually unparalleled in terms of the richness and diversity of its habitats, its flora and fauna, and its distinctive culture. It is also a region plagued with challenging economic issues, which lead to excess logging, mining, and commercial hunting in the form of poaching and the illegal bushmeat trade. All of these activities are contributing to today’s rampant deforestation and loss of wildlife in this ecologically fragile area.
Want one simple way to protect wildlife in Africa from right here at home? Just recycle your cell phone. Coltan is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of the African Congo. It is used in cell phones, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices. When refined, coltan becomes metallic tantalum, a heat resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. Many types of Coltan mining may occur illegally in protected lands all across the Congo which in turn put wildlife such as Elephants and Gorillas of the region at risk to populations of workers looking to supplement their salaries with hunting bushmeat. Recycling unused cell phones can help protect the wildlife, since reuse of the phones results in the need for fewer new ones, which reduces the need for coltan mining. It is only one step in the complicated issue of wildlife and habitat loss, an issue which needs many solutions and partners to make a change. But it is one thing everyone can do right now.
