Resolution of the European Parliament

During the bushmeat campaign of the European zoo association EAZA 1.9 million signatures were collected for a petition to the European Parliament. They were handed over in November 2001. A resolution was finally adopted on 14 January 2004.
It urges the Commission to integrate an EU strategy and action plan on bushmeat in the context of implementing the EU biodiversity action plan, to encourage full stakeholder participation involving local populations, civil society, government, as well as the private sector, and provide all necessary support, including capacity building, to empower local populations and civil society to participate fully in this process. Special attention should be paid to capacity building of wildlife, forestry and nature conservation authorities, law enforcement and anti-poaching measures, planning and management of national parks and other conservation areas, strategic environmental assessments for proposed policy reforms; environmental impact assessments for all infrastructure, and other relevant projects.
The Commission is urged, among other things, to assist communities that traditionally relied on bushmeat as their principal source of animal protein to develop the means to purchase other foodstuffs, to support educational and information campaigns. It calls for EU financial support for ecotourism in order to encourage local communities to protect endangered species, particularly the great apes, to develop, together with the timber industry and the developing countries concerned, ways and means to control bushmeat hunting on concessions. Bushmeat issues, criteria and indicators should be included in the European FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) process, and the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife should be included in the development policy of the EU. Moreover, measures and resources put in place by Member States to detect and prevent illegal imports of bushmeat into Europe and assess the adequacy of legal deterrents and penalties should be assessed.

Bushmeat overview

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