Hirokazu Yasuoka

Distribution and Numbers of Pygmies in Central African Forests

Pygmy populations occupy a vast territory extending west-to-east along the central African belt from the Congo Basin to Lake Victoria. However, their numbers and actual distribution is not known precisely. Here, we undertake this task by using locational data and population sizes for an unprecedented number of known Pygmy camps and settlements (n = 654) in five of the nine countries where currently distributed. With these data we develop spatial distribution models based on the favourability function, which distinguish areas with favourable environmental conditions from those less suitable for Pygmy presence. Highly favourable areas were significantly explained by presence of tropical forests, and by lower human pressure variables. For documented Pygmy settlements, we use the relationship between observed population sizes and predicted favourability values to estimate the total Pygmy population throughout Central Africa. We estimate that around 920,000 Pygmies (over 60% in DRC) is possible within favourable forest areas in Central Africa. We argue that fragmentation of the existing Pygmy populations, alongside pressure from extractive industries and sometimes conflict with conservation areas, endanger their future. There is an urgent need to inform policies that can mitigate against future external threats to these indigenous peoples’ culture and lifestyles.

Differences between Pygmy and Non-Pygmy Hunting in Congo Basin Forests

We use data on game harvest from 60 Pygmy and non-Pygmy settlements in the Congo Basin forests to examine whether hunting patterns and prey profiles differ between the two hunter groups. For each group, we calculate hunted animal numbers and biomass available per inhabitant, P, per year (harvest rates) and killed per hunter, H, per year (extraction rates). We assess the impact of hunting of both hunter groups from estimates of numbers and biomass of prey species killed per square kilometre, and by examining the proportion of hunted taxa of low, medium and high population growth rates as a measure of their vulnerability to overhunting. We then map harvested biomass (kg-1P-1Yr-1) of bushmeat by Pygmies and non-Pygmies throughout the Congo Basin. Hunting patterns differ between Pygmies and non-Pygmies; Pygmies take larger and different prey and non-Pygmies sell more for profit. We show that non-Pygmies have a potentially more severe impact on prey populations than Pygmies. This is because non-Pygmies hunt a wider range of species, and twice as many animals are taken per square kilometre. Moreover, in non-Pygmy settlements there was a larger proportion of game taken of low population growth rate. Our harvest map shows that the non-Pygmy population may be responsible for 27 times more animals harvested than the Pygmy population. Such differences indicate that the intense competition that may arise from the more widespread commercial hunting by non-Pygmies is a far more important constraint and source of conflict than are protected areas.

The Variety of Forest Vegetations in Southeastern Cameroon,with Special Reference to the Av ailability of Wild Yams for the Forest Hunter-Gatherers

absTraCT annually reproducing wild yam species (Dioscorea praehensilis and D. semperflorens) are considered to be the most important food for hunter-gatherer subsistence in terms of energy sources in the central african rainforests. despite their importance in the rainforest hunter-gatherer’s diet, annual yams are not widely distributed over the forest but locally concentrated in particular areas. in this study, i carried out vegetation censuses in two areas, one with abundant annual yam patches and one with few in southeastern Cameroon. The results indicate that the area with abundant annual yam patches is closely associated with the semi-deciduous forest, while the area with few patches was associated with the evergreen forest. Thus the difference in vegetation seems to affect the distribution and the availability of annual yam patches. however, recent studies have found evidence of historical human interventions that may have influenced the formation of semi-deciduous forest over the Congo Basin. Therefore, the degree of human influence on the distribution of the semi-deciduous forest itself, as well as that of annual yam patches, should be carefully examined to explain the abundance of annual yams.

QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF LIVELIHOODS AROUND GREAT APE RESERVES: CASES IN LUO SCIENTIFIC RESERVE, DR CONGO, AND KALINZU FOREST RESERVE, UGANDA

This study analyzed the livelihoods of people living around two great ape reserves in Africa, the Luo Scientifi c Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Kalinzu Forest Reserve, Uganda, based on quantitative assessments carried out for several years. The results show clear differences in food sources between the two sites. The forest is an important food source in Luo, whereas the market is central in Kalinzu. This difference should be acknowledged when adjusting management plans for the great ape reserves to fi t the actualities of local livelihoods. For example, in Kalinzu, restricted forest use can be compensated by an increase in cash income, which is more acceptable than in Luo, where the market economy is less developed and the forest provides most of the protein consumed by local people. This difference in degree of integration into the market economy presents different challenges for the long-term management of the reserves.

DIACHRONIC CHANGES IN PROTEIN ACQUISITION AMONG THE BONGANDO IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

A comparison of data obtained in the 1970s, 1980s, and 2000s revealed diachronic changes in protein acquisition among the Bongando people living in the Wamba region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The main protein source changed from bushmeat to fi sh due to depletion of the game animal population. This shift occurred for two main reasons. First, hunting pressure around sedentary villages had increased even before the 1980s. Second, a civil war in the 1990s resulted in changes in the structure of cash earning in this region, consequently accelerating commercial hunting for cash income. To preserve the ecosystem and ensure a stable protein supply, it is important to promote the aquaculture and animal husbandry that have been implemented by some local nongovernmental organizations.

FLEDGING AGRICULTURALISTS? RETHINKING THE ADOPTION OF CULTIVATION BY THE BAKA HUNTER-GATHERERS

The Baka hunter-gatherers currently cultivate agricultural crops. However, they do not seem to esteem planned, continuous, year-round produce, to which the neighboring cultivators attach great importance. The Baka do not expect to always obtain foodstuff from their own fi elds. Rather, than interpret this resource usage as an immature stage before the adoption of full agriculture, the adoption of banana cultivation by the Baka can be recognized as a diversifi cation of resource usage within the “semi-domestication” gradation. The author argues that “resource use” comprises of human-to-nature relationship and human-to-human relationship. What differentiates the resource use between the Baka and the cultivators is the human-to-human relationships that surround the resource, such as the right to use the resource, the labor input for the resource, the distribution and the consumption of the resource among the people. The author hypothesizes that the Baka community lacks a rigid logic linking labor input and ownership of its fruits. Conversely, when most Baka begin to feel that the causal relationship between labor and ownership is natural and reasonable, their community is recognized as being on the defi nitive step to becoming an agriculturalist community.

Bushmeat Crisis, Forestry Reforms and Contemporary Hunting Among Central African Forest Hunters

Several million tons of wild animals are hunted and their meat is consumed as an important source of food in central African forest countries. Hundreds or even thousands of tons of bushmeat are also smuggled into Europe, a situation that has recently posed health problems. There is a strong preference for bushmeat among the central African people, who distinguish “hunger for meat” from hunger for starchy food. Furthermore, bushmeat is not only a source of protein, but also valued as the source of “wild power” that can not be obtained from fish or domesticated animals. Improved access to remote forests through logging roads and the development of a consumer economy have resulted in a rising demand for bushmeat, both among African town dwellers and abroad. The excessive hunting pressure resulting from the increasing demands is, however, imposing serious impacts both on animal resources and the forest ecosystem and on local people’s livelihoods. This chapter describes the current situation of bushmeat hunting and consumption, and the background leading to the increasing demand for bushmeat. Taking Cameroon as an example, we also discuss the ecological problems brought about by overhunting, and address the issue of adverse impacts imposed by the recent national forestry reforms and of hunting regulations. The final section of the chapter describes an ongoing project aiming to reconcile forest conservation and poverty alleviation through the sustainable use of forest resources.

Changes in the composition of hunting catches in southeastern Cameroon: a promising approach for collaborative wildlife management between ecologists and local hunters

In recent years, both depletion of wild animals and declining food supply have threatened the livelihoods of people inhabiting the forests of the Congo Basin, and rendered the bushmeat trade a national and global concern. Because initial approaches to wildlife management were criticized for lacking consideration of the customary rights of local people, a variety of projects have been proposed to ensure their active participation in management initiatives. However, unfamiliar with the concepts of conservation ecology, local people have found it difficult to contribute effectively. This paper proposes an approach to monitor the status of fauna, based on the ratio of blue duikers (Philantomba monticola) to medium-sized duikers (Cephalophus spp.) for the total number of hunting catches (the catch B/M). Analysis of changes in the composition of hunting catches across multiple sites in southeastern Cameroon revealed the following trends: (1) without substantive human intervention, i.e., hunting pressure and forest disturbance, medium-sized duikers were densely distributed while blue duikers were sparse, so that the catch B/M was low; (2) under moderate human intervention, blue duikers became more densely distributed while the original density of medium-sized duikers was maintained, so that the catch B/ M increased; (3) with extensive human intervention in specific areas, medium-sized duikers became sparsely distributed while a relatively high density of blue duikers was maintained, so that the catch B/M increased significantly and a mosaic of different compositions of duikers was formed; and (4) with extensive human intervention extending over the specific extensive area, both medium-sized and blue duikers became sparse. It appears that the catch B/M predicts changes in the status of game animals and of the background wild fauna, and is both a sufficiently reliable variable for ecologists and perceptible for local people. Furthermore, this approach has the potential to cultivate a relationship of trust between ecologists and local people, which is indispensable in establishing effective collaborative wildlife management.

The Wild Yam Question: Evidence from Baka Foraging in the Northwest Congo Basin

In the mid-1980s, many argued that present-day hunter-gatherer societies had been marginalized and reconstructed under the enormous influences of macro-scale socioeconomic and political systems and thus could not be used as models of prehistoric human society. The so-called “Kalahari debate” concerning the San of the Kalahari Desert is of considerable importance because ethnographies of the San were often used for reconstructing prehistoric human society in the African savanna. A concurrent debate concerned the hunter-gatherer societies, which had long been thought to be the original inhabitants of tropical rainforests. Hart and Hart (1986), Headland (1987), and Bailey et al. (1989) questioned the viability of subsistence in the rainforest based solely on foraging, independent of agriculture. Tropical rainforests are known to be extremely productive with an amazing diversity of flora and fauna. Nevertheless, “revisionist” scholars found that in fact food resources for human subsistence are rather scarce, spatially dispersed, and seasonally variable, especially in terms of energy sources. Headland (1987) termed this the “wild yam question” as wild yams were thought to be the major energy source for humans in tropical rainforests but argued that even energy rich yams were insufficient for supporting foragers in the forests. Along with Hart and Hart (1986) and Bailey et al. (1989), he hypothesized that without access to cultivated food subsistence is not viable in tropical rainforests. Further, they argued that hunter-gatherers might not have lived in tropical rainforests until cultivated food had become available (nowhere earlier than 10,000 years B.P.).2