Bush Meat (Hansard, 18 July 2002)

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations her Department has received about the issue of the unsustainable bush meat trade and its inclusion in the World Summit on Sustainable Development. [70302]

§ Mr. Meacher
The Secretary of State has received the following recent representations about this issueTwo letters from my hon. Friend himself, dated 16 April and 24 May. A letter from the director of International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW UK), Ms Campbell-McRae, dated 27 May.
The Secretary of State has replied to each correspondence.
UK Government officials, including a DEFRA representative, attended the UK Bushmeat Campaign meeting on 28 May. The aim of the workshop was to draw attention to the bush meat crisis and to call for it to be raised at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).

§ Mr. Gardiner
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement about her Department's intention to include 485W the issue of the unsustainable bushmeat trade in her preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. [70300]

§ Mr. Meacher
The Government's work to tackle unsustainable bushmeat trade is ongoing, predominantly through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) and the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). We have funded research to analyse knowledge on the bushmeat trade, highlight gaps in data and understanding, and recommend further action. The Government supports a number of initiatives with links to bushmeat, such as the UK Bushmeat Working Group.
Our priorities for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) include poverty eradication and sustainable livelihoods, with a focus on implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, linked with the need for good domestic, regional and international governance and institutional capacity building. Action in these areas will address the diverse underlying causes of bushmeat trade. The draft Programme of Action (PoA) for WSSD recognises that the Conventions on Biodiversity (CBD) and International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES) are the key routes for achieving the conservation and sustainable sue of biological diversity and thereby tackling trade in bushmeat. The draft PoA calls for all countries to implement the CBD's programme of work on forest biological diversity. As you know, the work programme specifically calls for the establishment of a group to develop a work plan to bring harvesting of non-timber forest products, with particular focus on bushmeat, to sustainable levels.