Meat from the Wild: Extractive Uses of Wildlife and Alternatives for Sustainability

Abstract

Wildlife constitutes a renewable resource that generates a wide range of benefi ts worldwide. Extractive use of wildlife concerns numerous species and ecosystems, and involves a wide typology of actors, purposes, and extraction modes. In our changing world, one global challenge facing humanity is to balance space and food needs of human populations and the maintenance of our biological heri- tage. As regards more particularly the consumption of renewable resources, the question arises of how to develop the sustainable use of wildlife, for the mutual benefi t of biota, man and ecosystems.Overall, success stories of sustainable management modes of wildlife popula- tions should be further promoted and tested elsewhere together with enough law enforcement to prevent illegal exploitation. In that sense, exchange of experiences at international level can be highly benefi cial.Finally yet importantly, managing wildlife effectively requires appropriate poli- cies, social acceptability, good governance, and a degree of decentralization congru- ent with scales of wildlife management.