Biodiversity & Nature
Bushmeat
Wild animals harvested for food — a protein and income lifeline for millions of rural people and, unmanaged, a leading driver of wildlife decline in tropical forests.
Definition
The meat of wild (non-domesticated) animals harvested for human consumption and trade. The CBD's Liaison Group on Bushmeat defines the issue as the harvesting of wild animals in tropical and sub-tropical countries for food and non-food purposes; academic usage (Nasi et al. 2008) covers terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, typically excluding fish and insects.
References
CBD Bushmeat Liaison Group definition; tropical/sub-tropical scope; food and non-food purposes.
Taxonomic scope; top biodiversity threat in West/Central Africa and savannas; protein and income dependence.
Overview
What it means
Bushmeat sits at a difficult sustainability intersection. It is a critical source of protein, micronutrients and income for rural and Indigenous communities; yet unsustainable offtake is a top threat to biodiversity in West and Central Africa and across tropical savannas, emptying forests of seed-dispersing animals and creating "empty forest syndrome".
Commercial urban trade, rather than subsistence hunting, drives much of the unsustainable volume. The issue also connects to zoonotic-disease risk and to legality: much of the trade operates outside wildlife law.
How it is used
Conservation policy (CBD decisions, national wildlife law), alternative-livelihood and protein-substitution programmes, and enforcement against illegal trade all engage the bushmeat issue; "wild meat" is increasingly preferred in policy discourse to reduce stigma toward Indigenous and local communities.
Why it matters
Bushmeat tests whether conservation can protect wildlife without criminalising the food security of the rural poor — a defining equity challenge for biodiversity policy.
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