MENTOR - Bushmeat Fellowship Programme

Unsustainable hunting for bushmeat has been identified as the single greatest threat to Central Africa’s wildlife. In order to tackle this, ZSL and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have entered a cooperative agreement to implement the MENTOR-Bushmeat Fellowship Programme in collaboration with the Central African Bushmeat Action Group (CABAG). The MENTOR-Bushmeat programme seeks to combine rigorous academic and field-based training, long-term mentoring, learning through experience, as well as project design and implementation to protect species threatened by illegal trade in bushmeat.

Why we are there

The Congo Basin is a landscape rich in biodiversity; it is home to approximately 10,000 plant species, 400 mammals (including lowland and mountain gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants), 1,000 bird species and 700 species of fish. Sadly, many of these species are in decline owing to the pressure from the exploitative nature of the commercial bushmeat trade in urban centres.

Urban demand for bushmeat trade is driven by luxury consumers, and this demand not only impacts wildlife, but also has a direct negative effect on the food security and livelihoods of local and indigenous people by depleting game populations and destabilizing communities that depend on wildlife for subsistence. 
ZSL’s existing relationship with the Cameroonian Government, wildlife college and important African conservation organisations in this region will be integral in enabling effective cross-country collaboration needed to address the international bushmeat market as well as on the ground community outreach.

Objectives and Goals

The MENTOR-Bushmeat Programme is seeking to develop capacity within Central Africa to tackle the illegal trafficking of protected species in the commercial bushmeat trade.  A total of 8 MENTOR Fellows will be selected from bushmeat projects within the CABAG Membership in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Republic of Congo.  Two Fellows each from four field site will be selected.
The programme delivers a trans-disciplinary curriculum which will include :

• Bushmeat law enforcement, focussing on criminology and investigation
• Analysis of bushmeat transportation routes
• Socio-economic analysis of the commercial bushmeat trade
• Outreach and behaviour change campaigns  

The Fellows will become champions and outreach leaders communicating about the impact of bushmeat trafficking on protected species. The eventual aim is for local conservation action to significantly limit the flow of illegal bushmeat trade in protected species, beyond the end the MENTOR-Bushmeat program.

Key species

• Great apes and other primates, forest antelopes and ungulates and pangolins.