WRITTEN QUESTION E-0553/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(29 February 2000)

Subject: Consumption of the meat of endangered primates

According to a recent report by the World Conservation Union, one of the leading environmental associations in the United States, around 25 species of monkeys, lemurs and other primates risk disappearing from our planet in the next 10 to 20 years. This threat of extinction is caused not only by the destruction of tropical forests, but also by an increasingly alarming phenomenon the exponential growth in the consumption of monkey meat.

The blame is being laid first and foremost on the logging companies, trading in tropical timber, which allegedly fail to provide their workers with sufficient food. Furthermore, the problem of poaching has become more serious as a result of the wars which are devastating central Africa and have put an end to tourism, which was previously the cornerstone of the local economies. Now that gorillas are no longer useful as a tourist attraction, their meat has acquired enormous value as a delicacy.

Can the Commission say what measures it intends to take to guarantee the protection of the primate species under threat of extinction?

Can it issue a directive banning all forms of trade in monkey meat within the EU, especially considering the serious viral risk presented by the consumption of such meat?

Can the Commission also put the required pressure on the WHO to ban such practices in the countries in question?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(4 April 2000)

The information available to the Commission indicates that trade of illegal primate meat towards the Community is not a significant factor in the context of the extinction of endangered primates. International commercial trade in parts or derivatives of great ape species is already prohibited under the provisions of the Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) as it is for all other species threatened with extinction included in its Appendix I and Annex A of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97(1), which implements CITES in the Community. A great number of developing countries are party to CITES as well as 14 Member States.

The Commission is aware of serious problems caused by unsustainable bushmeat consumption and bushmeat trade among developing countries, in particularly in parts of Africa. The Commission has therefore under the environment budget line supported a study in order to identify the magnitude of bushmeat trade in Africa, to determine the underlying causes and to define possible policy measures. The results of the study will be published soon.

The threat to wildlife is in the first place from habitat degradation and destruction. The Commission supports projects and programmes, which focus on the sustainable management of ecosystems as well as the preservation of protected areas. Tropical forests are among the most important habitats for wildlife, and for primates in particular. Therefore, activities supported under the tropical forest budget line have many links with wildlife. Attention to conservation and sustainable use of wildlife by the local population is also given through several rural development programmes funded under the European development fund or the export earnings stabilization system for least-developed countries in Asia and Latin America. In both cases this is mainly done in the context of a livelihood approach, where local development opportunities are linked with the conservation of biodiversity. Local use of wildlife is not necessarily illegal or unsustainable.

Significant pressure on endangered wildlife is also exerted by illegal activities (e.g. hunting and trade) not at least in unstable situations of warfare or social unrest. In this context, Community support for good governance and capacity building projects and programmes is therefore also important to tackle the problem.

(1) OJ L 61, 3.3.1997.