The role of trade policy in creating a sustainable wild meat trade

Luke Swindell, former Associate Programme Officer at UNEP-WCMC outlines the role of trade policy in creating a more sustainable use, harvest and trade of wild meat, based on a new policy brief by Jayasurya Kalakkal at UN Environment Programme, Trade and Environment Team in Geneva, Switzerland.

Trade policy has a role to play

Over 2000 species of mammals, birds, and reptiles are consumed as wild meat globally, providing an important source of protein, fat, and nutrition for millions of people. The trade in wild meat, also known as ‘bushmeat’, is particularly prevalent across the tropics in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, with around 4.5 million tons of meat extracted annually from the Congo Basin, the world’s second largest rainforest, alone. Wild meat is not, however, restricted to the tropics.

For many communities, wild meat is a primary source of protein and key nutrients to maintain health, plays a crucial role in developing traditional knowledge, and stands as an important source of income for millions of indigenous peoples and local communities.

In their new policy brief, UN Environment Programme Environment (UNEP) and TRADE Hub explore the role of trade policy in transitioning to a more sustainable level of wild meat consumption and trade in Congo Basin countries. The brief maintains that policy measures must protect the economic livelihoods of those dependent on the trade and protect traditional customs involving wild meat, while also maintaining a sustainable rate of harvesting to prevent species population declines.

A growing appetite for wild meat

Demand for wild-sourced meat in some developing countries is increasing as human populations expand, particularly in urban areas. This often leads to overhunting and the depletion of slow-reproducing species, which tend to be the larger mammals

Combining different approaches

Many solutions and interventions to curb unsustainable demand for wild meat have been put forward. This includes exploring alternative sources of protein or farmed meats, behaviour change campaigns targeted at reducing consumption in urban areas, and increased enforcement of wildlife laws related to the trade of wild-caught animals.

In the Congo Basin, none of these approaches appear to have solved the issue in isolation, but together they have the potential to work towards more sustainable wildmeat consumption and trade. Yet, the challenge of influencing policy and high-level decision makers to implement broader strategies in an integrated way remains.

Where does trade policy fit in?

Trade policy is a series of rules and regulations that guide and control trade domestically and with foreign countries and exist at global, national, and local levels.

Trade policies can be used as a tool to limit the unsustainable consumption and trade of wildmeat, largely by preventing the movement of unsustainably caught wildlife and helping to increase the availability of sustainably sourced meats and substitute meats as alternatives. Trade policies have the power to help create an enabling environment that reduces the dependency of rural populations on hunting and commercial trade of wild meat, for example through enhanced food supply at affordable prices, job creation, income security and livelihood diversification.

In collaboration with TRADE Hub, Jayasurya Kalakkal from UN Environment Programme (UNEP) produced a policy brief discussing the barriers and opportunities presented by trade policy in wildmeat related interventions. This brief is the first work of its kind.

It puts forward a series of key recommendations to inform policymakers and decision-makers on ways trade policy can support interventions enabling the transition to sustainable wildmeat consumption and trade. These recommendations include:

1. Improving the supply of legally and sustainably produced wild meat with the development of trade related standards, frameworks, and increased capacity to facilitate legal, transparent and traceable supply of wildmeat,

2. Smoother and improved trade facilitation simplifying import and export procedures so as to improve availability and affordability of food commodities including vegetables, grains, pulses, farmed meats to improve overall food security amongst the population,

3. Setting up stronger safety nets for poor households to minimise negative impacts on food security that result from free trade measures.

4. Provisions in trade agreements regulating the environmental and social implications of extractive industries (particularly logging and mining industries) including ensuring that contractors and employees in these industries are ensured food and nutritional supply from sustainable sources and educated on the implications of hunting wild meat, especially of endangered species,

5. Trade policy ‘safeguards’ to support the growth of nationally relevant and sensitive local industries and livelihoods such as against import surges and unfair competition from exporting countries.

Bringing trade and wild meat decision-makers to the same table

To make use of such recommendations and address unsustainable wild meat trade in the Congo Basin, TRADE Hub researchers have collaborated to bring these findings to key policymakers and facilitate dialogue between players involved in relevant national and international policy discussions.

Historically, wild meat has been missing from policy discussions surrounding sustainable trade. Trade policy and wild meat commodities are rarely linked together during policy discussions. There is also a lack of cooperation between decision-makers in trade and wild meat issues, meaning systemic approaches to tackling the wild meat trade are often not pursued. Understanding wild meat in its macroeconomic context and as an integral part of global food systems can create opportunities for discussions involving international policymakers and push policies towards larger scale systemic change.

UNEP’s policy brief opens the door for these discussions to be held between trade and environment ministries at the national level, and at multilateral level between Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) secretariat and members at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

On a national level, TRADE Hub researchers held discussions with the government of Gabon to help them develop a national strategy on the sustainable consumption and trade of wild meat. TRADE Hub collated the evidence database that informed strategic decision-making in policy development.

Consultations have further been held with policymakers in Cameroon to revise wildlife hunting laws, and the TRADE Hub is working on a series of videos detailing the role of behaviour change and trade policy in supporting sustainability in wild meat consumption within the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bringing trade and wild meat actors together is critical not only to developing long-term systemic change in the wild meat trade but also in achieving global goals on sustainable food systems and making trade a tool to achieve the targets and goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Reducing pressure on biodiversity, while meeting the socio-economic and cultural needs of local communities is the way forward.