Divine Ntaryike | Douala, Cameroon 04 February 2010

Wildlife conservationists say in Cameroon, protected species are more

endangered than ever before. Experts say the continuing popularity of

wildlife meat, or bushmeat, is encouraging armed poachers to gun down

hundreds of thousands of animals. But the government has introduced new

initiatives to halt the illegal trade.

By DAN HARRIS and ALMIN KARAMEHMEDOVIC
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Dec. 11, 2009

Conservationists Call to Stop Illegal Trade of Bushmeat, Protect Animals From Poachers

Wild elephants are one of the most aggressive and feared animals in the jungle, but that doesn't stop poachers from risking it all to hunt them.

Poaching has become the number one threat to iconic, endangered animals like elephants, gorillas, bonobos, hippos, zebras, antelope and monkeys. But it's not elephant tusks they're after. It's food. Africans are literally eating away their natural heritage.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/IntoTheWild/bushmeat-africa-sold-open-market-us/story?id=9312518&page=1

JEDEDIAH F. BRODIE* AND HOLLY K. GIBBS

TROPICAL FORESTS STORE 340 BILLION TONS of carbon, equivalent to more than 40 years' worth of human fossil fuel emissions (1). Tropical deforestation and degradation are responsible for an estimated 20% of global carbon emissions to the atmosphere (2). In response, a new policy that aims to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) will likely be part of the climate treaty negotiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change this December.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/326/5951/364-b.pdf

The local consumption and export of bush meat generates a total of $300 million dollars into the Ghanaian economy every year, an official of the Forestry Commission told the GNA in Accra.

Mr. Samuel Afari Dartey, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, said the forestry sector was the fourth biggest foreign exchange earner for the country and part of the reasons was the high earnings from bush meat. "Timber export alone generated 250 million euros last year and the forest reserves also attract huge numbers of tourists every year," he said.

Forestry sector is fourth to cocoa, gold and tourism on the foreign exchange earners chart. At the opening of a national stakeholders' workshop on the implementation of the non-legally binding instruments (NLBI) on all types of forests in Ghana, Mr. Dartey said but for deforestation and forest degradation, earnings would have been higher.

http://news.peacefmonline.com/news/200911/30933.php