21 May 2021, Ouesso, Republic of Congo - Bushmeat scenes from the port of Ouesso. The animals travel via car, motorbike and boat. This is a town notorious for its bushmeat market. These are scenes from the wholesale market in the late afternoon where meat sellers come to buy what they will sell the next day. The vast majority of the selling is done by women. Men do the hunting and transporting.
Background information
The SWM Programme activities in Congo focus on the forest concessions that constitute the wild meat (game and fish) supply basin of the town of Ouesso. Hunting and fishing are important sources of food and income. To secure the sustainable use of wild protein by the local populations of traditional villages (indigenous and Bantu) located in these forest concessions, the project operates at three scales. The aim is to balance the supply and demand for wild meat products in 1) traditional villages, 2) secondary towns and forest camps and 3) cities. Community hunting areas overlap with logging concessions. Some of the concession are FSC certified and are working with the SWM Programme to achieve sustainable levels of hunting and prohibit the sale of wild meat.
