Title
Modeling the sustainability of subsistence farming and hunting in the Ituri forest of Zaire
Author(s)
Wilkie, D.S.; Curran, B.; Tshombe, R.; Morelli, G.A.
Published
1998
Publisher
Conservation Biology
Abstract
We used empirical data to simulate the impacts, over the next 40 years, of subsistence-level agricultural clearing and hushmeat consumption on forest resources within the recently established Okapi Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Zaire. Satellite imagery, human population census data, and field measurements were used to calculate present and projected impacts of agricultural clearing on forest cover. Data on per capita meat consumption and the species captured by hunters were combined with relevant ecological data to estimate ratios of consumption to production and to assess the sustainability of hunting. Even with projected population growth of nearly 300% among local communities over 40 years, sufficient secondary forest is available that agricultural clearing will have minimal effect on mature forest throughout most of the reserve. Impacts on the reserve's fauna will be more dramatic, particularly within 15 km of villages, where most hunting currently occurs. Subsistence exploitation of forest antelopes may be sustainable in much of the reserve (especially if high estimates of game production are used, but as the human population continues to increase duikers will likely be over-hunted. Primate populations do not appear to be threatened in the near future in those areas where how hunters exploit monkeys, but an increase in this specialized activity in other regions of the reserve and growing human populations could change this. Although additional surveys of commonly hunted species throughout the Okapi Wildlife Reserve are essential to enhancing the precision of the simulation, our results suggest that mitigation efforts should be designed and implemented now if the long-term effects of domestic hushmeat consumption are to be addressed.
Keywords
developing country; forest; forest resources; hunting; meat consumption; protected area; subsistence agriculture; subsistence farming; sustainable development; substrate agriculture; sustainability; sustainable development; Zaire, Ituri Forest; NORTHEASTERN ZAIRE; EQUATORIAL-GUINEA; SEED DISPERSAL; PREY CHOICE; NET-HUNTERS; RAIN-FOREST; DEFORESTATION; BUSHMEAT; HABITAT; CONSERVATION

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PUB12888