Toward a sustainable, participatory and inclusive wild meat sector

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 endanger the integrity of ecosystems and threaten the livelihoods of many vulnerable households. This report, produced in response to a call from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is a technical tool to help users guide actions towards a more sustainable wild meat sector. Here, we present an extensive compilation of the current knowledge on wild meat use, drivers and impacts, and provide recommendations on how to improve wild meat governance and management.In all tropical and subtropical regions, greater wildlife offtakes are being enabled by advances in hunting technologies, as well as the increased penetration of new lands by infrastructure, logging, mining and agriculture. Consumers in fast-growing urban centers largely drive demand for wild meat, where it is eaten as a luxury item rather than as a food staple. This greater pressure from large towns and cities has had significant impacts on wildlife populations and ecosystem integrity. In turn, this jeopardizes the financial ‘safety nets’ and food security of remote rural and indigenous communities, for whom wild meat can account for much of their dietary protein, as well as an important source of other nutrients.Key to the success of sustainable management is ensuring that wild meat use is considered a cross-sectoral issue; firmly incorporated in national resource and land-use planning. The success of management strategies will depend on an enabling environment at the national level. In many countries a key first step will be the revision of national hunting laws and land tenure governance systems in consultation with multiple stakeholders. Research efforts must focus on producing science-based evidence that governments, communities, NGOs and industries can use to improve management policies and practices.The creation of a sustainable wild meat sector requires interconnected interventions along the entire value chain – focused on local hunting communities, urban consumers and wider society. Well-designed, participatory approaches can enable sustainable management of wild meat supply for local communities, but only if this is strongly complemented by approaches that aim to reduce urban deman

Social Correlates of and Reasons for Primate Meat Consumption in Central Amazonia

Traditionally, humans have consumed nonhuman primates in many places, including throughout the Amazon region. However, primate consumption rates are changing with rising urbanization and market access. We characterize primate consumption in central Amazonia using 192 qualitative interviews with inhabitants in three rural villages and in the city of Tefé. We used a generalized linear model to investigate how individual consumer characteristics, such as age and gender, and livelihoods affected primate consumption. We also used principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), and word clouds and network text analyses, to describe reasons people gave for eating or avoiding primates. Our results show that men were more likely to say that they eat primates than women, and that the probability that a person said that they eat primates correlated positively with the percentage of their life lived in rural areas. People gave sentiment and ethical reasons not to eat primates. Custom influenced whether people said they eat primates both positively and negatively, while taste positively influenced whether people said they eat primates. A preference for other wild meats in rural areas, and for domestic meats in cities negatively influenced whether people said they eat primates. People also cited the perceptions that primates have a human-like appearance and that primate meat is unhealthy as reasons not to eat primates. People in urban areas also cited conservation attitudes as reasons for not eating primates. Our findings provide an understanding of factors influencing primate consumption in our study area and will be useful for designing tailored conservation initiatives by reducing hunting pressure on primates in rural settings and increasing the effectiveness of outreach campaigns in urban centers

Life history, distribution and abundance of the giant earthworm Rhinodrilus alatus RIGHI 1971: conservation and management implications

Rhinodrilus alatus is an endemic giant earthworm of the Brazilian Cerrado hotspot used as live bait for about 80 years. The goal of this study was to gather ecological data about this species, which will support the establishment of management strategies. The life history, distribution and abundance of R. alatus were investigated in Cerrado, pastures and Eucalyptus plantation areas following the harvesting activities of the local extractors of this species. We found that this earthworm is abundant in all of the sampled areas, showing its resilience to land-use conversion. The Capture Per Unit Effort was 4.4 ± 5 individuals per 100 metres of transect and 5.6 ± 3 individuals per hour. The earthworm's annual cycle is markedly seasonal, with an aestivation period throughout the driest and coldest season of the year. Significant differences in the length and diameter of the body and in the diameter and depth of the aestivation chambers were found between the juveniles and adults. The distribution range of the species was expanded from two to 17 counties. The life history, abundance, distribution and resilience of R. alatus to certain perturbations are key elements to be considered in conservation and management strategies for this species

Amazonia Camtrap: a data set of mammal, bird, and reptile species recorded with camera traps in the Amazon forest.

Abstract : The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scatteredacross the published, peer-reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublishedraw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazonregions to compile the most extensive data set of inventories of mammal,bird, and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete data setcomprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals, and13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eightcountries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru,Suriname, and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxawere: mammals:Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds: Pauxi tuberosa (3713 records); and reptiles:Tupinambis teguixin(716 records). The infor-mation detailed in this data paper opens up opportunities for new ecological studies at different spatial and temporal scales, allowing for a moreaccurate evaluation of the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, climatechange, and other human-mediated defaunation processes in one of themost important and threatened tropical environments in the world. The data set is not copyright restricted; please cite this data paper when usingits data in publications and we also request that researchers and educator sinform us of how they are using these data

The use of the stars: alchemy, plants and medicine

This chapter discusses the astronomical, astrological, medical and alchemical elements of the two scientific texts by Grosseteste which are presented in the Volume

Bradykinin induced a positive chronotropic effect via stimulation of T- and L-type calcium currents in heart cells

Using Fluo-3 calcium dye confocal microscopy and spontaneously contracting embryonic chick heart cells, bradykinin (10(-10) M) was found to induce positive chronotropic effects by increasing the frequency of the transient increase of cytosolic and nuclear free Ca2+. Pretreatment of the cells with either B-1 or B-2 receptor antagonists (R126 and R817, respectively) completely prevented bradykinin (BK) induced positive chronotropic effects on spontaneously contracting single heart cells. Using the whole-cell voltage clamp technique and ionic substitution to separate the different ionic current species, our results showed that BK (10(-6) M) had no effect on fast Na+ inward current and delayed outward potassium current. However, both L- and T-type Ca2+ currents were found to be increased by BK in a dose-dependent manner (10(-10)-10(-7) M). The effects of BK on T- and L-type Ca2+ currents were partially blocked by the B-1 receptor antagonist [Leu(8)]des-Arg(9)-BK (R592) (10(-7) M) and completely reversed by the B-2 receptor antagonist D-Arg[Hyp(3),D-Phe(7),Leu(8)]BK (R-588) (10(-7) M) or pretreatment with pertussis toxin (PTX). These results demonstrate that BK induced a positive chronotropic effect via stimulation of T- and L-type Ca2+ currents in heart cells mainly via stimulation of B-2 receptor coupled to PTX-sensitive G-proteins. The increase of both types of Ca2+ current by BK in heart cells may explain the positive inotropic and chronotropic effects of this hormone

A review of potential and limitations of dredged sediment application in agriculture

The review report provides an insight into sediment collection and use strategies that can be transferred to El-Bared irrigation system. The report is the outcome of the project “Rehabilitation and waste management of the El-Bared Canal Irrigation System”, financed by the Government of Norway. The report aims to provide technical guidelines in support of the development of sediment management strategies in the north of Lebanon. In the specific, it aims at providing an overview of global and national practices of sediment application; setting the theoretical baseline for the implementation of these practices; and paving the way for scalable pilots in the country. The report contributes to the higher objectives of the country’s commitment to protect marine resources of the Mediterranean Sea, under the Barcelona Convention.This publication “A review of potential and limitations of dredged sediment application in agriculture” is produced within the framework of the FAO “GCP/LEB/033/NOR” project “Rehabilitation and waste management of El-Bared Canal Irrigation System” funded by the Government of Norway.Peer reviewe

Wild meat trade over the last 45 years in the Peruvian Amazon

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICWe thank the market vendors in Iquitos who supported and participated in the project. The present study would not have been possible without the logistical and financial support of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-CGIAR-USAID-DFID), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Earthwatch Institute, the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, the Iniciativa para la Conservación de la Amazonia (ICAA), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the Darwin Initiative, UK. H.R.E.B. is supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (grant number 201475/2017-0). T.Q.M. is supported by the WCS Graduate Scholarship Program, a program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Christensen Conservation Leaders Scholarship, by the Wildlife Conservation Network Scholarship Program through the Sidney Byers Scholarship award, and The British Federation of Women Graduates through the Funds for Women Graduates.Altres ajuts: CNPq/201475/2017-