Food security is increasingly becoming a priority for tropical countries. This has led to reconsideration of the need to find systems and practices of sustainable harvest, consumption and trade of bushmeat and other wildlife products. This paper provides a synthesis of information found in the expanding global literature on the many dimensions and functions of game species, bushmeat and other game resources. Much research effort has focused on documenting and measuring the impact of bushmeat harvesting on populations of targeted game species. This has resulted in an emphasis of conservation effort on the protection of game species and the criminalization of hunting, bushmeat trade and consumption. Despite decades of official bans on bushmeat trade and consumption, some socioeconomic studies have shown that bushmeat is often the main source of protein and income for low-income urban and rural families in some tropical countries. Similarly, the role of large and small-bodied game species in the sustainable provision of seed dispersion and other ecosystem services are underlined by some ecological and conservation biology studies. A great diversity of complex management systems of game species in forests and on agriculture land are reported by some ethnographic studies. The encouraging results from some bushmeat studies are an incentives to conduct evidence-based studies that can generate knowledge and information that can help policy-makers to make informed decisions.

The meat of wild species, referred to in this report as ‘wild meat’, is an essential source of protein and a generator of income for millions of forest-living communities in tropical and subtropical regions. However, unsustainable harvest rates currently

Bringing together leading scientists and professionals in tropical forest ecology and management, this book examines in detail the interplay between timber harvesting and wildlife, from invertebrates to large mammal species. Its contributors suggest modifications to existing practices that can ensure a better future for the tropics' valuable--and invaluable--resources.

The importance of wildlife. Wildlife and sustainable livehoods. The bushmeat crisis. Synergistic factors affecting the sustainability of hunting. Linkages between bushmeat harvest and other available protein sources. Lessons learned and recommendations.

Antelopes constitute a fundamental part of ecosystems throughout Africa and Asia where they act as habitat architects, dispersers of seeds, and prey for large carnivores. The fascication they hold in the human mind is evident from prehistoric rock paintings and ancient Egyptian art to today's wildlife documentaries and popularity in zoos. In recent years, however, the spectacular herds of the past have been decimated or extripated over wide areas in the wilds, and urgent conservation action is needed to preserve this world heritage for generations to come. As the first book dedicated to antelope conservation, this volume sets out to diagnose the causes of the drastic declines in antelope biodiversity and on this basis identify the most effective points of action. In doing so, the book covers central issues in the current conservation debate, especially related to the management of overexploitation, habitat fragmentation, disease transmission, climate change, populations genetics, and reintroductions. The contributions are authored by world-leading experts in the field, and the book is a useful resource to conservation scientists and practitioners, researchers, and students in related disciplines as well as interested lay people.

Though seasonally dry tropical forests are equally as important to global biodiversity as tropical rainforests, and are one of the most representative and highly endangered ecosystems in Latin America, knowledge about them remains limited because of the relative paucity of attention paid to them by scientists and researchers and a lack of published information on the subject. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests seeks to address this shortcoming by bringing together a range of experts in diverse fields including biology, ecology, biogeography, and biogeochemistry, to review, synthesize, and explain the current state of our collective knowledge on the ecology and conservation of seasonally dry tropical forests. The book offers a synthetic and cross-disciplinary review of recent work with an expansive scope, including sections on distribution, diversity, ecosystem function, and human impacts. Throughout, contributors emphasize conservation issues, particularly emerging threats and promising solutions, with key chapters on climate change, fragmentation, restoration, ecosystem services, and sustainable use. Seasonally dry tropical forests are extremely rich in biodiversity, and are seriously threatened. They represent scientific terrain that is poorly explored, and there is an urgent need for increased understanding of the system's basic ecology. Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests represents an important step in bringing together the most current scientific information about this vital ecosystem and disseminating it to the scientific and conservation communities.