Plain Language Summary: Multiple factors shape the consumption of wild animals for meat in towns and cities in southern Cameroon.

By Franklin T. Simo, Ghislain F. Difouo, Christian N. Tchana, Alain Christel Wandji, Alfiery Laurel Djomnang-Nkwala, Marcelle Mbadjou-Nziké, Sévilor Kekeunou, Markéta Swiacká, and Daniel J. Ingram.

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Across the tropics, people consume the meat of wild animals (“wild meat”) for a variety of reasons. When demand to consume wild meat drives hunting in rural areas at unsustainable levels, it is a significant conservation and food security concern. Recently, the consumption of wild animals has received global attention given discussions over the origins of zoonotic disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. Wild meat consumption by urban residents in the tropics has been identified as a major sustainability challenge, yet there is limited information about the factors that shape why urban wild meat consumers may consume wild meat or whether the pandemic changed their consumption patterns. This information is vital because conservation organisations are increasingly interested in developing ways to bring the consumption of wild meat towards sustainability.

In our study, we focussed on the southern forested area of Cameroon, Central Africa, which is considered an area of significant wild meat consumption where the sustainability of the system is in question. To collect data on wild meat consumption patterns among urban people, we conducted a study across 20 towns and cities whereby urbanites were asked to complete a questionnaire. Our results showed that nearly half of the sampled consumers ate wild meat once per week or more and most had not decreased their consumption of wild meat due to COVID-19. We also found that the likelihood of being in the most frequent consumer category increased among men, people living in smaller towns, and those who do not consider there to be a link between eating wild meat and disease. In addition to peoples’ beliefs about the health implications of consuming wild meat, we identified possible trusted messengers and communication channels that could be included in conservation campaigns.

Our results have implications for conservation locally and pan-tropically, particularly by highlighting the potentially important factors to consider when designing a wild meat demand-reduction initiative. More broadly, our results are relevant for global policy such as the recent Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which has set a global goal that biodiversity is sustainably used.