Robert Nasi

Center for International Forestry Research | CIFOR

Several hundred species are hunted for wild meat in the tropics, supporting the diets, customs, and livelihoods of millions of people. However, unsustainable hunting is one of the most urgent threats to wildlife and ecosystems worldwide and has serious ramifications for people whose subsistence and income are tied to wild meat. Over the past 18 yea...

Subsistence hunting has sustained human populations in New Guinea for millennia, without seriously affecting the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth. Recent changes to hunting practices, demographic, social and economic context and the introduction of large exotic species has significantly altered the dynamic of hunting and its potential effect...

Baseline population data are fundamental to the development of wildlife management plans and are usually generated based on field surveys using sampling tools such as camera traps (CT). However, this method can be costly and ineffective with rare species or in wildlife-depleted areas. An alternative is to complement baseline wildlife population dat...

In this study we provide the first comprehensive camera-trap assessment of terrestrial mammals in the Yangambi landscape, comprising the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve and a logging concession in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The terrestrial mammal community in this area exhibits lower occupancy and species richness compared to other conservati...

Measures adopted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and economic shocks caused by the pandemic have affected food networks globally, including wild meat trade networks that support the livelihoods and food security of millions of people around the world. In this article, we examine how COVID-related shocks have affected the vulnerability and coping...

The rise of zoonotic disease-related public health crises has sparked calls for policy action, including calls to close wildlife markets. Yet, these calls often reflect limited understanding of where, precisely, exposure to risk occurs along wildlife and wild meat trade chains. They also threaten to negatively impact food security and livelihoods....

The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already ha...

In the Caribbean region, very little is known about wild meat use and trade. To contribute to this knowledge gap, we studied the wild meat trade chain on the coastal area of Guyana, which geographically and culturally connects the Caribbean and the Amazon Region. In Guyana, the wildmeat sector is legal and in the process of being regulated. Our stu...

Sustainability is widely used in science and politics and has myriad definitions. Some explanations emphasize the ecological, socio-political or economic aspects of sustainability. In this chapter we introduce the different approaches and metrics that have been used or proposed to assess wild meat sustainability. We first describe the concept of ma...

Ensuring the sustainable management of wild meat use is challenging and complex, requiring a balance between sustainable development, food security and conservation. Available information and examples from more than four decades of research suggests that with the right enabling environment, political will and suitable legislation and governance, we...

We start the chapter by describing the different modes of hunting and clarify that in this book we primarily focus on subsistence hunting and commercial hunting; the latter provides wild meat for local rural and urban markets. The main objective of subsistence hunting is to provide food for the hunters and their families. This activity plays a vita...

The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already ha...

In this chapter we first define the tropics and subtropics, the environmental backdrop of our book. We then highlight the main biomes found in these areas and present an overview of the availability of huntable animals found in these habitats. Because mammals are the most important hunted group, most of our analyses refer to them. We focus our desc...

The exploitation of wild animals for their meat not only continues throughout the tropics and subtropics but is in most areas increasing. This is an activity of crucial importance that continues to buttress the food security and livelihoods of many millions of people. In this chapter we give an overview of the impact of hunting on prey populations....

The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already ha...

Many diseases that affect humans are directly or indirectly connected to wild and domestic meat and to wildlife in general. All have different impacts ranging from mild to lethal. In this chapter we concentrate on those emerging zoonotic diseases which are directly linked to wild meat and which have the most serious impact on humans (mainly viral d...

The hunting of wild animals for their meat has been a crucial activity in the evolution of humans. It continues to be an essential source of food and a generator of income for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Conservationists rightly fear that excessive hunting of many animal species will cause their demise, as has already ha...

In this first chapter we describe the importance of hunting and meat eating to humans and how this has influenced the evolution of the species. This is followed by a brief review of how prevailing ecological conditions influence human’s dependence on plants or animals to survive at different latitudes. We then document which animal species and grou...

Humans and other animals face decisions on which food items to harvest, when to quit searching and when to move on to the next patch. This chapter starts by describing optimal foraging theory (OFT), which has been used to understand and to predict foraging behaviour in animals as well as humans. We follow this by describing how cultural issues, suc...

Forests, trees, and agroforestry (FTA) are ecosystem hotspots. They exemplify the contributions of biodiversity to sustainable and resilient landscapes, green circular economy and to sustainable agriculture and food systems for healthy diets. However, most research on these topics have been performed separately and lack comparison. The Internationa...

The global food system is failing to deliver sufficient and nutritious food to all, while damaging the earth and unsustainably drawing down its resources. We argue that trees and forests are essential to solving these challenges. We outline the current contributions of trees and forests to the global food system and present recommendations to lever...

Le rapport État des forêts 2021 (EDF 2021) est le septième de la série publiée depuis 2005. Le rapport précédent a été publié en 2015 lors de la quinzième Conférence des Parties de la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC) tenue à Paris. Le présent rapport a été élaboré lors de la pandémie de la COVID-19 qui s'e...

The 2021 State of the Forest (SOF 2021) report is the seventh in the series published since 2005. The previous report was released in 2015 during the fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris. This report was prepared during the COVID-19pandemic, which imposed itself as...

Marketing strategies to promote behavioral change are increasingly used to reduce the unsustainable use of wild meat. One of the mayor keys for success of behavior change campaigns lies in the choice of the channel for communication and the messaging. In this research, we present a behavioral change campaign implemented in Yangambi, Democratic Repu...

We elucidate the value orientations (VOs) towards wild meat/wildlife in the Tshopo Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, distinguishing between the provincial capital and rural areas. Based on stories prompted by four primary emotions, the most frequently encountered VOs were: concern for safety, nutrition and taste, and caring/respect. Rur...

This document is part of a series of short papers on "The Future of X", produced as part of foresight-related research supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets, and edited by Keith Wiebe (IFPRI) and Steven Prager (Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT). These short papers are intended to provide a focused, forward-lo...

Wild meat markets play a crucial role for food security and cash income for subsistence hunters in the tropics and subtropics. In Nigeria, the amount of meat sold from most species crashed dramatically after the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014. Sales further diminished after arrival of COVID-19, likely because of restrictions to commerce and of change...

This study looks for the first time at the extent to which terrestrial animals protected by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) are being impacted by wild meat taking, trade and consumption. It contributes to the implementation of a decision adopted by the CMS Conference of the Parties in 2020 (CMS Decision...

Several hundred species are hunted for wild meat in the tropics, supporting the diets, customs, and livelihoods of millions of people. However, unsustainable hunting is one of the most urgent threats to wildlife and ecosystems worldwide and has serious ramifications for people whose subsistence and income are tied to wild meat. Over the past 18 yea...

Several hundred species are hunted for wild meat in the tropics, supporting the diets, customs, and livelihoods of millions of people. However, unsustainable hunting is one of the most urgent threats to wildlife and ecosystems worldwide and has serious ramifications for people whose subsistence and income are tied to wild meat. Over the past 18 yea...

Accurate characterization of tropical moist forest changes is needed to support conservation policies and to quantify their contribution to global carbon fluxes more effectively. We document, at pantropical scale, the extent and changes (degradation, deforestation, and recovery) of these forests over the past three decades. We estimate that 17% of...

Forests, trees and agroforestry are part of major land-use transitions worldwide, with an impact on the balance between the global issues of planetary boundaries and local concerns about livelihoods and peoples’ rights. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include complex trade-offs between various local and global interests in forests or de...

Forests have re-taken centre stage in global conversations about sustainability, climate and biodiversity. Here, we use a horizon scanning approach to identify five large-scale trends that are likely to have substantial medium- and long-term effects on forests and forest livelihoods: forest megadisturbances; changing rural demographics; the rise of...

Conservationists need detailed information on human population growth and distribution in areas adjacent to protected areas. This information can help determine land use/land cover changes (LULCC), which affect the quality and quantity of elephant habitat and, thus, elephant populations. We assessed the influence of human population trends on demog...

The 10-Point Action Plan to catalyse a Circular Bioeconomy of Wellbeing is a call for collective and integrated action to global leaders, investors, companies, scientists, governments, non- governmental and intergovernmental organisations, funding agencies and society at large to put the world on a sustainable path.

Accurate characterization of the tropical moist forests changes is needed to support conservation policies and to better quantify their contribution to global carbon fluxes. We document - at pantropical scale - the extent of these forests and their changes (degradation, deforestation and recovery) over the last three decades. We estimate that 17% o...

In the last 50 years, the biosphere, upon which humanity depends, has been altered to an unparalleled degree. The current economic model relying on fossil resources and addicted to “growth at all costs” is putting at risk not only life on our planet, but also the world’s economy. The need to react to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis is a unique o...

Humanity is becoming too big for our planet. After relying on a fossil-based economy for 200 years, we are threatening to reach a tipping point, crossing the resilience boundaries of our world. Using the words of Greta Thunberg – how dare you continue like this! – it is time for transformational action.We need to accelerate the transition from the...

1. A significant link between forest loss and fragmentation and outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans has been documented. Deforestation may alter the natural circulation of viruses and change the composition, abundance, behaviour and possibly viral exposure of reservoir species. This in turn might increase contact between infected anima...

At a time when more than 5 million tonnes of bushmeat are harvested annually from tropical forests, and which account for a significant, but unrecorded, share of the gross domestic product of many forest countries, decision makers are encouraged, within conservation and food security policies, to understand the role that wildlife can play in the co...

Given the importance of wildmeat for local and national economies, understanding the structure and operations of the informal wildmeat value chains is necessary to provide recommendations for a sustainable wildmeat sector. However, the limited number of case studies available hinders our capacity to understand general patterns in wildmeat trade cha...

The meat of wild species, referred to in this report as 'wild meat', is an essential source of protein and a generator of income for millions of forest-living communities in tropical and subtropical regions. However, unsustainable harvest rates currently endanger the integrity of ecosystems and threaten the livelihoods of many vulnerable households...

Background Miombo woodlands cover ≈ 2.7 million km ² of central and southern Africa between dry (650 mm mean annual rainfall) and moist miombo (1400 mm) and are currently threatened by land use and land cover changes that have intensified over the last 50 years. Despite the miombo’s global significance for carbon (C) storage and sequestration, ther...

In the face of increased defaunation in tropical regions, embracing the complexity of wildlife population trends is important to guide the development of effective conservation and restoration strategies. Here, based on a case study in Democratic Republic of the Congo, we use an ethnozoological approach, with a protocol that captures spatially expl...

À l’heure où plus de 5 millions de tonnes par an de viande de brousse sont prélevées dans les forêts tropicales et représentent une part significative, mais non comptabilisée, du produit intérieur brut de nombreux pays forestiers, les décideurs publics sont amenés à clarifier, dans les politiques de conservation et de sécurité alimentaire, le rôle...

Despite the existence of clear legal regulations governing the forest sector in Zambia, a peculiar value chain has developed in recent years around highly valuable trees, which are sold mainly on the Chinese market under the general name of ‘rosewood’ and known in Zambia as ‘mukula’. •• The Zambian government has acted on the value chain with a cyc...

Protected areas (PAs) in Central Africa provide unprecedented opportunities to maintain ecosystem integrity and safeguard the unique wildlife of one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. However, conflicts exist between wildlife protection, and the needs of human populations adjacent to PAs. Although the use of wildlife resources within PAs...

In much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the informal economy rules supreme. Often defined as unregulated production, distribution and service provision, informal economic activities across SSA provide crucial cash income and employment for both rural and urban populations. Governing the informal economy is a key policy challenge for governments across...

Aim The status, type and ecology of the vegetation of the southeastern seasonal regions of Indonesia need to be clarified to identify adequate natural resource management and conservation strategies. Location Tanimbar archipelago represents a group of islands south of the Banda sea in the Moluccas. The largest is the flat Yamdena (7°36′ S, 131°25′...

We synthesize information on parameters useful for managing the hunting of two common mammal species that are important for local people in the Neotropics and Africa: Cuniculus paca and Philantomba monticola , respectively. We highlight the scarcity of data available on the parameters needed to manage these two species sustainably. As most of the s...

Many urban areas located at the forest edge maintain a high connection to the forest, either because forests provide resources and services that act as safety nets for the poor or because they represent a cultural link to traditional lifestyles. However, in conflict areas, this link to the forest may have been disrupted, either because conflict exa...

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 detrimen...

Food insecurity and malnutrition can be major, yet often overlooked, consequences of armed conflicts because of the disruption of rural-urban trade networks and human migration toward safe urban centers. Bushmeat has been shown to act as an important safety net for conflict-affected urban populations, contributing the provisioning of basic needs an...

We assess whether the implementation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme in the Congo basin has had positive additional impacts-as compared to existing regulatory frameworks applied in noncertified Forest Management Units (FMU)-on (1) the working and living conditions of logging companies' employees and their families, (2)...

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a contagious, severe and often lethal form of hemorrhagic fever in humans. The association of EVD outbreaks with forest clearance has been suggested previously but many aspects remained uncharacterized. We used remote sensing techniques to investigate the association between deforestation in time and space, with EVD out...

Nudging the development trajectory of tropical landscapes towards sustainability requires a global commitment and policies that take diverse contexts and forest transitions into account. Out-scaling and upscaling landscape-level actions to achieve sustainable development goals globally need to be based on understanding of extrapolation domains and...

This viewpoint paper presents a reaction to the article by Brandt et al. (2016). It highlights the complexities inherent to the attribution of deforestation impacts to policy interventions when using remote-sensing data. This critique argues that in the context of the Congo a suite of factors (i.e., population density in particular) other than thos...

The importance of bushmeat as source of food and medicine for forest peoples calls for an appropriate benefit/risk analysis in terms of human health. In this systematic review, we compiled information on the linkages between bushmeat and health, with a particular focus on the nutritional content, the zoo-therapeutic uses and the zoonotic pool of bu...

The importance of bushmeat as source of food and medicine for forest peoples calls for an appropriate benefit/risk analysis in terms of human health. In this systematic review, we compiled information on the linkages between bushmeat and health, with a particular focus on the nutritional content, the zoo-therapeutic uses and the zoonotic pool of bu...

By 2010, about 25% (180millionha) of The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) producer countries’ permanent forest estate was being managed using an approved forest management plan (FMP). While the existence of a FMP is often used as evidence of sustainable forest management (SFM), State officials mandated to monitor and verify FMPs’ i...

In Africa, overhunting of tropical wildlife for food remains an intractable issue. Donors and governments remain committed to invest in efforts to both conserve and allow the sustainable use of wildlife. Four principal barriers need to be overcome: 1) communities are not motivated to conserve wildlife long-term because they have no formal rights to...