By ACP Press
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Recent studies have shown that overhunting for wild meat is threatening hundreds of wildlife species with extinction, with the result that many indigenous peoples and rural communities are deprived of food and income.
An initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, established to tackle these challenges, has published their first newsletter to bring attention to these issues.
The SWM Programme is co-funded by the European Union and the French Global Environment Facility and is being implemented by a consortium comprised of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
The quarterly newsletter aims to inform readers on progress in the 12 participating ACP countries. The inaugural edition features highlights from all the pilot projects, an article on the Programme’s community-based approach, a special focus on the SWM project in Guyana and an interview with Viwanou Gnassounou, ACP Assistant Secretary General, who explained the relevance of the Programme to the ACP countries.
“Wild meat is an important source of protein, fat and micronutrients, particularly for indigenous peoples and rural communities in many of the 79 ACP states.” He added that the initiative is “of utmost importance to design solutions that achieve both human development goals and wildlife conservation,” says Gnassounou.
Click here to view the newsletter, which is available in French and English. [IDN-InDepthNews – 5 April 2019]
Image credit: ACP
This report is part of a joint project of the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States and IDN, flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate.
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