Alternative livelihood project (ALP) is a widely used term for interventions that aim to reduce the prevalence of activities deemed to be environmentally damaging by substituting them with lower ...impact livelihood activities that provide at least equivalent benefits. ALPs are widely implemented in conservation, but in 2012, an International Union for Conservation of Nature resolution called for a critical review of such projects based on concern that their effectiveness was unproven. We focused on the conceptual design of ALPs by considering their underlying assumptions. We placed ALPs within a broad category of livelihood-focused interventions to better understand their role in conservation and their intended impacts. We dissected 3 flawed assumptions about ALPs based on the notions of substitution, the homogenous community, and impact scalability. Interventions based on flawed assumptions about people's needs, aspirations, and the factors that influence livelihood choice are unlikely to achieve conservation objectives. We therefore recommend use of a sustainable livelihoods approach to understand the role and function of environmentally damaging behaviors within livelihood strategies; differentiate between households in a community that have the greatest environmental impact and those most vulnerable to resource access restrictions to improve intervention targeting; and learn more about the social-ecological system within which household livelihood strategies are embedded. Rather than using livelihood-focused interventions as a direct behavior-change tool, it may be more appropriate to focus on either enhancing the existing livelihood strategies of those most vulnerable to conservation-imposed resource access restrictions or on use of livelihood-focused interventions that establish a clear link to conservation as a means of building good community relations. However, we recommend that the term ALP be replaced by the broader term livelihood-focused intervention. This avoids the implicit assumption that alternatives can fully substitute for natural resource-based livelihood activities. El término proyecto de subsistencia alternativa es utilizado ampliamente para las intervenciones que buscan reducir la prevalencia de las actividades señaladas como dañinas para el ambiente al sustituirlas con actividades de subsistencia de menor impacto que proporcionan por lo menos beneficios equivalente. Estos proyectos se implementan comúnmente en la conservación, pero en 2012, una resolución de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza pidió una revisión crítica de dichos proyectos con base en la preocupación por la falta de pruebas de su efectividad. Nos enfocamos en el diseño conceptual de proyectos alternativos de subsistencia al considerar sus conjeturas subyacentes. Colocamos los proyectos alternativos de subsistencia dentro de una categoría amplia de intervenciones enfocadas en la subsistencia para entender de mejor manera su papel en la conservación y sus impactos intencionales. Analizamos minuciosamente tres suposiciones erróneas sobre los proyectos de subsistencia alternativa con base en las ideas de sustitución, comunidad bomogénea y escalabilidad del impacto. Las intervenciones basadas en las suposiciones erróneas de las necesidades de las personas, aspiraciones y los factores que influyen en la elección de la subsistencia tienen poca probabilidad de alcanzar objetivos de conservación. Por lo tanto, recomendamos el uso de una estrategia de subsistencias sustentables para entender el papel y la función de los comportamientos dañinos para el ambiente dentro de las estrategias de subsistencia; diferenciar entre los hogares de una comunidad que tienen el mayor impacto ambiental y aquellos más vulnerables a las restricciones de acceso a los recursos para mejorar la selección de intervenciones; y aprender más sobre el sistema socio-ecológico en el cual están embebidas las estrategias de subsistencia de los hogares. En lugar de usar las intervenciones enfocadas en la subsistencia como una herramienta directa de cambio de comportamiento, puede ser más apropiado enfocarse en mejorar las estrategias existentes de aquellos más vulnerables a las restricciones de acceso a los recursos impuestas por la conservación o en el uso de las intervenciones enfocadas en la subsistencia que establecen un vínculo claro con la conservación como medio de construcción de buenas relaciones comunitarias. Sin embargo, recomendamos que el término proyecto de subsistencia alternativa sea remplazado por el término más general de intervención enfocada en la subsistencia. Esto evita la suposición implícita de que las alternativas pueden sustituir por completo a las actividades de subsistencia basadas en los recursos naturales.
Interventions targeting consumer behavior may help to reduce demand for bushmeat in urban areas. Understanding the drivers of urban bushmeat consumption is crucial to guide such interventions; ...however the cultural and socio-psychological factors driving consumer behavior remain understudied. Through qualitative interviews with urban bushmeat consumers in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo, we investigated perceptions of bushmeat and other animal proteins, and social norms regulating urban demand for bushmeat. The perception of bushmeat as natural, tasty and healthy, and a rare luxury product functioning as a symbol of social status, underpins social norms to provide bushmeat. The main barriers to purchasing were cost and availability. Locally produced fish, meat, and poultry were positively perceived as organic and healthy, whereas frozen imported animal proteins were perceived negatively as transformed, of poor quality and taste, and unhealthy. Our findings provide an initial baseline understanding of social-psychological drivers shaping consumption that can inform the design of bushmeat demand reduction campaigns.
The trade of bushmeat from rural areas to supply burgeoning cities is a major conservation and livelihood concern. Using a whole-city sampling strategy we mapped the distribution and numbers of meat ...outlets in the Kinshasa-Brazzaville metropolitan area, two neighboring capital cities in Central Africa. We show that both cities differ in the number and density of meat outlets, with more in Brazzaville per area sampled and inhabitants. The number of meat outlets is related to human population densities and primarily concentrated along the banks of the Congo River, in the more affluent areas of the cities. Across the two cities, roughly 22% of all sampled markets (50% in Brazzaville and 19% in Kinshasa) and 24% of all visited restaurants (24% in each city) were selling bushmeat during our survey. Despite the relatively low number of establishments offering bushmeat for sale, extrapolated to the entire area and population of both cities, we expect the overall amount of wild animal meat consumed per annum to be significantly high. We suggest that the supply of such numbers of wild animal meat will strongly impact the animal populations sourcing these cities. Our data also indicate that the number of domestic meat outlets may be adequate to supply urban dwellers with sufficient animal protein.
Wild animals play an integral and complex role in the economies and ecologies of many countries across the globe, including those of West and Central Africa, the focus of this policy perspective. The ...trade in wild meat, and its role in diets, have been brought into focus as a consequence of discussions over the origins of COVID-19. As a result, there have been calls for the closure of China’s “wet markets”; greater scrutiny of the wildlife trade in general; and a spotlight has been placed on the potential risks posed by growing human populations and shrinking natural habitats for animal to human transmission of zoonotic diseases. However, to date there has been little attention given to what the consequences of the COVID-19 economic shock may be for the wildlife trade; the people who rely on it for their livelihoods; and the wildlife that is exploited. In this policy perspective, we argue that the links between the COVID-19 pandemic, rural livelihoods and wildlife are likely to be more complex, more nuanced, and more far-reaching, than is represented in the literature to date. We develop a causal model that tracks the likely implications for the wild meat trade of the systemic crisis triggered by COVID-19. We focus on the resulting economic shockwave, as manifested in the collapse in global demand for commodities such as oil, and international tourism services, and what this may mean for local African economies and livelihoods. We trace the shockwave through to the consequences for the use of, and demand for, wild meats as households respond to these changes. We suggest that understanding and predicting the complex dynamics of wild meat use requires increased collaboration between environmental and resource economics and the ecological and conservation sciences.
Central African cities are major centres of demand for wild meat, even when affordable alternative proteins are widely available. Many people eat wild meat in restaurants; therefore, restaurateurs ...are well placed to provide insights into the wild meat trade and consumer preferences. We surveyed 326 restaurants in Brazzaville and Kinshasa, the adjoining capital cities of the Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo, to determine which types of restaurants sell wild meat, how sales of wild meat dishes compared with those containing other proteins, and the importance of wild meat to these businesses. The majority of wild meat‐selling restaurants are informal establishments owned by women. Although most only sell wild meat dishes weekly, we estimate that nearly 10,000 wild meat dishes are consumed daily in restaurants across Brazzaville and Kinshasa. Its wide availability reinforces the social norm around eating wild meat, yet few restaurateurs considered wild meat to be central to the viability of their business. It is important to distinguish between restaurants reliant on wild meat sales and those that offer it to diversify their menus. Forging partnerships with restaurateurs offer untapped potential to develop mutually beneficial allegiances to further wild meat demand reduction efforts.
Résumé
Les villes d'Afrique centrale sont des centres importants de demande de viande de gibier, même lorsque des protéines alternatives sont largement disponibles à des prix abordables. Un nombre élevé de personnes consomment de la viande sauvage dans les restaurants. Les restaurateurs sont donc bien placés pour fournir des informations sur le commerce de la viande de gibier et les préférences des consommateurs. Nous avons interrogé 326 restaurants à Brazzaville et à Kinshasa, les capitales voisines de la République du Congo et de la République Démocratique du Congo, afin de déterminer les types de restaurants qui vendent de la viande de gibier, de comparer les ventes des plats à base de viande de gibier par rapport à celles des plats contenant d'autres protéines, et l'importance de la viande de gibier pour ces entreprises. la majorité des restaurants vendant de la viande de gibier sont des établissements informels appartenant à des femmes. Bien que la plupart ne vendent des plats à base de viande de gibier qu'une fois par semaine, nous estimons que près de 10 000 plats à base de viande de gibier sont consommés quotidiennement dans les restaurants de Brazzaville et de Kinshasa. La grande disponibilité de la viande de gibier renforce l’idée que sa consommation est une norme sociale, mais peu de restaurateurs considèrent que celle‐ci est essentielle à la viabilité de leur entreprise. Il est important de distinguer les restaurants dont l’activité dépend de la vente de viande de gibier de ceux qui en proposent pour diversifier leur menu. Établir des partenariats avec les restaurateurs, ouvre la voie à un potentiel inexploité d’élaboration d’allégeances mutuellement bénéfiques, visant à faire progresser les efforts de réduction de la demande de viande de gibier.
Bushmeat hunting has evolved into a large-scale commercial activity in western and central Africa. Primates are particularly vulnerable to over-exploitation and tend to be absent from heavily hunted ...areas. To reduce their rate of decline, human use of, and reliance on, bushmeat must be understood so that locally appropriate mitigation strategies can be developed. We address the social dimension of bushmeat hunting by revealing why people hunt, the techniques used, harvest composition, species preferences and the nature of human economic and nutritional reliance. Data were collected during May and June 2007 in Lebialem Division, Southwest Region, Cameroon. Ninety semi-structured interviews with hunters and trappers were conducted alongside participatory appraisal sessions in 6 rural communities. The main reason for harvesting bushmeat was income generation. Shotguns were the weapon of choice, enabling 74% of interviewees to hunt primates. A decrease in mammalian abundance was reported by 88%, motivating hunters to trek to protected areas outside of Lebialem. 64% sold more bushmeat than they consumed, with hunters selling a greater proportion than trappers, due to species composition. Fish was the principle source of animal protein consumed on a regular basis. Hunting and trapping were mainly secondary income-generating activities, but the flexibility of labour inputs and rates of return make them important livelihood components. To reduce financial reliance on bushmeat harvesting and the volume of species extracted, the development of economic alternatives and conservation education programmes should be given priority.
Abstract Context In end-of-life care, delirium is often not recognized and poses unique management challenges, especially in the case of refractory delirium in the terminal phase. Objectives To ...review delirium in the terminal phase context, specifically in relation to recognition issues; the decision-making processes and management strategies regarding its reversibility; the potential refractoriness of delirium to symptomatic treatment; and the role of sedation in refractory delirium. Methods We combined multidisciplinary input from delirium researchers and knowledge users at an international delirium study planning meeting and relevant electronic database literature searches (Ovid Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL) to inform this narrative review. Results The overall management strategy for delirium at the end of life is directed by the patient's prognosis in association with the patient's goals of care. As symptoms of delirium are often refractory in the terminal phase, especially in the case of agitated delirium, the judicious use of palliative sedation is frequently required. However, there remains a lack of high-level evidence for the management of delirium in the terminal phase, including the role of antipsychotics and optimal sedation strategies. For the family and health-care staff, clear communication, education, and emotional support are vital components to assist with decision making and direct the treatment care plan. Conclusion Further research on the effectiveness of delirium management strategies in the terminal phase for patients and their families is required. Further validation of assessment tools for diagnostic screening and severity measurement is needed in this patient population.
As life expectancy in people living with HIV (PLWH) has increased, the focus of management has shifted to preventing and treating chronic illnesses, but few services exist for the assessment and ...management of these individuals. Here, we provide an initial description of a geriatric service for people living with HIV and present data from a service evaluation undertaken in the clinic. We conducted an evaluation of the first 52 patients seen in the clinic between 2016 and 2019. We present patient demographic data, assessment outcomes, diagnoses given, and interventions delivered to those seen in the clinic. The average age of attendees was 67. Primary reasons for referral to the clinic included management of complex comorbidities, polypharmacy, and suspected geriatric syndrome (falls, frailty, poor mobility, or cognitive decline). The median (range) number of comorbidities and comedications (non-antiretrovirals) was 7 (2–19) and 9 (1–15), respectively. All attendees had an undetectable viral load. Geriatric syndromes were observed in 26 (50%) patients reviewed in the clinic, with frailty and mental health disease being the most common syndromes. Interventions offered to patients included combination antiretroviral therapy modification, further health investigations, signposting to rehabilitation or social care services, and in-clinic advice. High levels of acceptability among patients and healthcare professionals were reported. The evaluation suggests that specialist geriatric HIV services might play a role in the management of older people with HIV with geriatric syndromes.
Sosuga virus (SOSV), a rare human pathogenic paramyxovirus, was first discovered in 2012 when a person became ill after working in South Sudan and Uganda. During an ecological investigation, several ...species of bats were sampled and tested for SOSV RNA and only one species, the Egyptian rousette bat (ERBs;
), tested positive. Since that time, multiple other species have been sampled and ERBs in Uganda have continued to be the only species of bat positive for SOSV infection. Subsequent studies of ERBs with SOSV demonstrated that ERBs are a competent host for SOSV and shed this infectious virus while exhibiting only minor infection-associated pathology. Following the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, surveillance efforts focused on discovering reservoirs for zoonotic pathogens resulted in the capture and testing of many bat species. Here, SOSV RNA was detected by qRT-PCR only in ERBs captured in the Moyamba District of Sierra Leone in the central region of the country. These findings represent a substantial range extension from East Africa to West Africa for SOSV, suggesting that this paramyxovirus may occur in ERB populations throughout its sub-Saharan African range.
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