Over two million metric tonnes of wild meat – equivalent to tens of millions of individual animals – is harvested every year from Africa's Congo Basin.

While subsistence hunting is a vital and healthy source of protein and income for many rural communities, problems arise where wild meat is hunted commercially for sale in cities, creating unsustainable levels of demand.

Around 285 mammal species worldwide are currently threatened with extinction due to hunting for wild meat, with devastating cultural and food security impacts for those who rely on them.

This is further complicated by the unregulated wildlife trade creating significant risks for the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 and monkeypox.

In response, the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme is working in 13 countries across the African continent to develop solutions to the problem of wildlife over-harvesting, including alternative protein production and human behaviour change campaigns.

“We must manage the use of wild species for food looking at the whole range of possible options from pure conservation to sustainable use to domestication," said Center for International Forestry Research Director-General Robert Nasi. "We can’t simply tell people depending on wildmeat as their main source of protein simply to stop eating meat without giving them affordable and healthy alternatives."

Read more: Policy needs to match a need for food security

Stella Asaha, the site coordinator of the SWM Programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo, described the challenges for wildlife conservation in the area, which is located in and around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve – one of the most diverse wildlife ‘hotspots’ on the continent.

“The rich natural resources of this site, including underground resources, is a great challenge to us, as it attracts a lot of people,” said Asaha. The SWM Programme in DRC is supporting communities to develop alternative livelihoods and alternative protein sources, such as palm larvae production, bean cultivation, and poultry keeping. “One of our main achievements is engaging communities in sustainable businesses,” she said. “And within the cities, we are establishing contacts with enterprises to increase the production of chicken.”

Brent Stirton, a photographer for National Geographic who has contributed images to the SWM campaign, commented: “Food security is all about educating people for a level of coexistence. The communities where we find people who are very reliant on this trade, they need to understand that this is not a movement against them; this is a movement that is considering their future as well as the future of nature. So trying to find that core balance is a very important thing here, and it's not easy. But the more we talk about it, the more we can suggest alternatives, and the more trust there could be between all these different groups. That's key to finding a solution for a really viable future."