L'exploitation durable de la faune dans un village forestier de la République Centrafricaine : une approche interdisciplinaire

This manuscript presents the results of an interdisciplinary study of wildlife exploitation in Banga, a bofi forest village of 300 persons in Central African Republic. In the first part of this work, operating modes and worldviews of the four main local stakeholders of wildlife management are confronted: the Central African State, the local peoples (Pygmies and Bantus), a forester and a conservation-development project. This analysis shows marked differences between actors in terms of internal organization, influence networks, means available, knowledge of the resource and its exploitations, values, goals, strategies and vision of the future. Basically, there is a major conceptual divide between local people and the others stakeholders. The second part of this work summarizes the methods developed by the Conservation Biology to assess the sustainability of wildlife harvesting, applying them to our study site. We distinguished sustainability indices that can be classified as empirical or theoretical, and site-specific modeling exercises. This review identifies many approximations, uncertainties, questionable assumptions and errors that limit the relevance of sustainability indices. Furthermore, our analysis shows that these methods carry implicit values (environmentalism, fixism and neo-liberalism) that influence their results. Thus, the third part of this thesis proposes a synthesis of the wildlife management problem in Banga using the Panarchy framework, which gives a new definition of sustainability, of the role of science and of the practice of interdisciplinarity for complex problems solving. Four scenarios of prospective change and action are constructed, which clarify the values they promote, the beneficiaries of the actions engaged, the probability of success and their expected results. (Résumé d'auteur

Are we really all in this together? The social patterning of mortality during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium

BACKGROUND: Belgium was one of the countries that was struck hard by COVID-19. Initially, the belief was that we were ‘all in it together’. Emerging evidence showed however that deprived socioeconomic groups suffered disproportionally. Yet, few studies are available for Belgium. The main question addressed in this paper is whether excess mortality during the first COVID-19 wave followed a social gradient and whether the classic mortality gradient was reproduced. METHODS: We used nationwide individually linked data from the Belgian National Register and the Census 2011. Age-standardized all-cause mortality rates were calculated during the first COVID-19 wave in weeks 11-20 in 2020 and compared with the rates during weeks 11-20 in 2015-2019 to calculate absolute and relative excess mortality by socioeconomic and -demographic characteristics. For both periods, relative inequalities in total mortality between socioeconomic and -demographic groups were calculated using Poisson regression. Analyses were stratified by age, gender and care home residence. RESULTS: Excess mortality during the first COVID-19 wave was high in collective households, with care homes hit extremely hard by the pandemic. The social patterning of excess mortality was rather inconsistent and deviated from the usual gradient, mainly through higher mortality excesses among higher socioeconomic groups classes in specific age-sex groups. Overall, the first COVID-19 wave did not change the social patterning of mortality, however. Differences in relative inequalities between both periods were generally small and insignificant, except by household living arrangement. CONCLUSION: The social patterning during the first COVID-19 wave was exceptional as excess mortality did not follow the classic lines of higher mortality in lower classes and patterns were not always consistent. Relative mortality inequalities did not change substantially during the first COVID-19 wave compared to the reference period

Gabon - Vers une gestion durable de la chasse villageoise. Diagnostic approfondi du département de Mulundu et recommandations stratégiques

Ce rapport intitulé "Gabon - Vers une gestion durable de la chasse villageoise" fait partie de la série de rapports techniques du Programme de gestion durable de la faune sauvage (Sustainable Wildlife Management "SWM" Programme). Au Gabon, le SWM Programme opère au sein d'une collectivité territoriale décentralisée (département de Mulundu) dans un contexte de faible densité humaine, et où l'exploitation de la faune sauvage contribue significativement à la sécurité alimentaire et économique des populations rurales. Le SWM Programme au Gabon vise donc à promouvoir une gestion durable de la chasse villageoise et du commerce local de viande de brousse, tout en augmentant l'offre en protéines alternatives. L'objectif est de trouver un juste équilibre entre l'utilisation de la faune sauvage et sa conservation. Les enseignements tirés de cette initiative seront reproduits dans d'autres endroits du pays. Le SWM Programme est une initiative de l'Organisation des États d'Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique (OEACP) financée par l'Union européenne (UE) et cofinancée par le Fonds français pour l'environnement mondial (FFEM) et l'Agence française de développement (AFD). Ce programme de sept ans (2017-2024) est mis en oeuvre dans 15 pays membres de l'OEACP par un consortium de partenaires incluant l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO), le Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (Cirad), le Centre de recherche forestière internationale (CIFOR) et la Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

Extension de l'aire de distribution du mangabey agile (Cercocebus agilis) et du mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) dans l'est du Gabon, documentée grâce aux pièges photographiques.

peer reviewe

Notes on the distribution and status of small carnivores in Gabon

The distribution and status of small carnivore species in Gabon have never been comprehensively assessed. We collated data from general wildlife surveys, camera-trap and transect studies and analyses of bushmeat consumption and trade, to map their country-wide occurrence and assess current exploitation levels. Records of Common Slender Mongoose Herpestes sanguineus and Cameroon Cusimanse Crossarchus platycephalus represent the first confirmation of their occurrence in Gabon. Cameroon Cusimanse was believed to extend into north-east Gabon, but the Slender Mongoose records extend its known range well outside that previously suspected. We furthermore extended the known range for Egyptian Mongoose Herpestes ichneumon. Crested Genet Genetta cristata has also been proposed to occur in Gabon but our records were not suited to evaluating this possibility given the difficulties of separation from Servaline Genet G. servalina. Most species appear to be distributed widely across the country. While several are commonly recorded in hunter catch and bushmeat markets, they form only a small proportion (3.4% and 3.1%, respectively) of all bushmeat records. However, in proximity to settlements, small carnivore exploitation, for bushmeat and use of body parts in traditional ceremonies, appears to have adverse effects on species richness and abundance