Empowering Decision-Making: Tools and Metrics for Wildlife Management
We helped create an online tool focused on providing accessible data on wild meat to decision-makers through the WILDMEAT database and an online data viewer. These systems host datasets on wild meat consumption, hunting offtakes and market sales in one standardized format and accessible database. At present the tools are mainly used in Central Africa to inform on-the-ground decision-making and project monitoring and evaluation, facilitating effective conservation efforts.
In terms of metrics and indicators to better measure the sustainability of the wild meat trade, we completed several areas of work. We worked with the Collaborating with the Collaborative Partnership on Sustainable Wildlife (CPW) and the EU Sustainable Wildlife Management project (EU-SWM), to propose indicators relevant to Targets 5 and 9 of the CBD Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework that could be used by countries to monitor implementation of those targets. Initial drafts of our proposed indicators were available on the WILDMEAT database explorer. A workshop in September 2024 sought to elaborate upon these proposals to bring them to the CBD meetings later in 2024.
Our support also extended to the decision-making process of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). We produced a comprehensive report on the impacts of taking, trading, and consuming terrestrial migratory species used for wildmeat. This contributed to the implementation of CMS COP 13 decisions. Virtual launches and side events at the CMS COP further disseminated this vital information, fostering informed decision-making and conservation actions at the international level.
Through these initiatives, we equipped stakeholders with the necessary tools and metrics to make informed decisions about the harvest and consumption of wild meat. This will lead to more sustainable wildlife management and an overall reduced risk of disease spillover from animals to humans in the future.