Why wild terrestrial mammal health and protection?
- wild terrestrial mammals hereafter always defined as free ranging wild mammals!
- only 4% of the world’s biomass are wild terrestrial mammals
- ~ 1 million animal and plant species worldwide are threatened with extinction in the next ten years
- particularly devastating decline in Latin America and the Caribbean, the average population size of wild animals has fallen by 94% there
- Africa recorded the second-largest decline at 66%
- approx. 1.4–2.2% of the total population regularly rely on wild meat in South America (5–8 million people, similar amount in South East Asia)
Biosystem services of wild terrestrial mammals:
Terrestrial mammals
- are an important part of the food web (herb-, fruit- ,grain-, arthropod-,carnivorous)
- disperse seed in their fur and faeces also over country borders
- scavengers remove dead carcasses (biomass transformation, pathogen reduction)
- pollinators (bats)
- large herbivores keep grasslands and primary forests open
- arthropodivorous mammals keep vectors and agricultural pests low
- the more biodiversity the less zoonoses harbouring hosts
- fertilise the soil
Many wild mammals have also an important cultural aspect for Indigenous people.
Drivers of zoonotic transmission
- increased contact between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife through land-use changes (i.e. encroachment (agriculture, mining), fragmentation, tourism (esp. great apes, bats), leisure activities (cave-dwelling)
- the wildlife consumption and trade (both legal and illegal) esp. wet markets
- meat, trophy and traditional medicine hunting, any kind of carcass manipulation
- feeding, baiting and snaring of wildlife (concentration in one location)
Especially susceptible:
- great apes: mumps-, measles-, polio-, ebolavirus, respiratory diseases as adenovirus, rhinovirus, coronavirus, human meta pneumonia virus, human syncytial virus; human coli strains, at least 6 amoeba varieties, a wide variety of other endoparasites, skin mites, fungal infections like: encepalitozoon, enterocytozoon
- marine carnivores: Avian Influenza, human influenza A and B, distemper
- terrestrial carnivores esp mustelidae: human Influenza, human corona virus
- deer and boar: human coronavirus, human tuberculosis (over water)
- beavers and otters: giardiasis (over water)
Health aspects – diseases transmitted from humans to wildlife
- often through tourists, park guards, paramilitary and military, hunters and miners, local communities, researchers, filmmakers, photographers,
- roughly twice as many host jumps from viruses from humans to other animals than the other way round
- about 40% of the species potentially susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 are classified as threatened
Effects of climate change on wild terrestrial mammals
- heat stress: reduces reproduction in wildlife, leads to heat-related illnesses and fatalities
- heat / extreme weather: migration and competition, disrupts or enhances migration patterns of wildlife, leads to human/ wildlife conflicts, injuries, attacks and snakebites, dehydration, malnutrition, immune suppression and pathogen distribution
- wildfires: destruct shelter, fodder and kill by burning
- habitat loss: due to rising sea levels, melting ice, deforestation, desertification-population decline and extinction
- plant die-off cascading effect: herbivor die off, leads to predator die-off, leads to symbiotic partners die-off
- loss of biodiversity: reduces genetic diversity, more susceptible to diseases and environmental stressors
Project profiles
Cameroon and Chad
About the project
Project Support for the cross-border national park complex BSB Yamoussa in Cameroon and Chad
Goal Operationalisation of the bi-national agreement of the transboundary protected area complex BSB Yamoussa contributing to the protection of the Bouba Ndjida and Sena Oura National Parks
Implementation period 01.11.2022-31.10.2025
Entry points
- necessity for improvement of the cross-border management of the park for the BSB Yamoussa complex
- necessity of improvement of the environmental education strategies
- necessity of establishing clear zones for different types of hunting areas around Bouba Ndjidda National Park’s edges and Sena Oura National Park’s buffer zone.
What facilitated the project
- follow on project of previous project
- some regulations, structures and trust were already in place
- challenges: lack of political will
- solution: takeover of the park management by NGO in Chad
Indicators
- no illegal agricultural land in the Bouba Njida (PNBN) and Sena Oura (PNSO) national park protection zones, hunting zones and the transition zone
- all 32 target group organisations, 106 user groups and 8,000 users have signed the code of conduct on compliance with protected area-compliant behaviour
- 100 women’s groups, 6 pre-cooperatives and 6,000 producers, including 2,000 men and 4,000 women, are involved in support programmes for additional individual income
- 75% of 32,000 pupils in 400 primary schools and 75% of 1,000 members of environmental clubs have confirmed the positive impact of environmental education on pupils’ attitudes towards parks
Crosscutting resource- and cost-efficient effects
| Cameroon/Chad | Animal health | Human health | Environmental health |
| improved park management | better protection against poachers | experts and managers have better skills, improved acceptance by park border population | advantages of a cohesive binational park, better protection by enforcement of rules |
| value chain improvement | less hunting | improved food safety and income | less pressure on forest |
| environmental education | better protection of wildlife | improved awareness, protection action, next generation action | better protection of park |
| zone demarcation by trees hunting zone agricultural zone | protection of wildlife in core zone, less possible disease transmission between domestic and wildlife | clear knowledge of what is allowed, easier rule enforcement compensation instead of illegal herding | more tress, recovery of protected area |
Namibia
About the project
Project: Climate change and inklusive use of natural resources
Goal: The capacities of the population and responsible institutions for a climate-adapted resilient and inclusive management of natural resources are increased
Implementation period: 21.10.2016-31.03.2025
Entry points
- improved water infrastructure
- reducing human-wildlife conflict in the area of crop losses
- safe storage of crops against loss by rodents and other wildlife
- community gardens
- training of multipliers for climate-smart cultivation
What facilitated the project
- trust and knowledge build in the region through preceding project
- working directly with departmental & regional actors while ministries were only informed instead of having to interact with ministries
- challenge: ministries needed to be convinced of necessity of digitalisation over a long time
Indicator
- improved water structures: create bore holes & refurbish old ones with solar panels for pumping
- reducing human/wildlife conflict: by creating new water sources for humans and wildlife
- repairing fences around protected areas
- community gardens around protected areas
- harvest storage facilities for communities & individuals
- training of farmers: training of individual farmers in climate resilient agricultural methods & ask them to train neighbours
- implementation of a digital system: for annual reports & benefit sharing, reporting of illegal activities
| Namibia | Animal health | Human health | Environmental health |
| improved water infrastructure | improved hygiene and health | improved hygiene and health | watering of cultivated plants against soil erosion |
| reducing human-wildlife conflict in the area of crop loss | better tolerance of wildlife, less wildlife hunting | improved food safety | species protection area protection |
| safe storage of crops against loss by rodents and other wildlife | less wildlife hunted | zoonoses avoidance, more crops better nutrition, less wildlife hunting | less land use change for cultivation |
| community gardens | less wildlife hunted | income generation, improved food safety zoonoses avoidance | less land use change for cultivation use of crop byproducts as fertilisers |
| training of multiplierts of climate smart cultivation | less wildlife hunted | better nutrition from cultivation | less land use change for cultivation |
Link List – Wild Terrestial Mammal Health:
Human behaviour change tools for wildlife conservation: https://spatialagent.org/GWPBehaviourChange/
A health perspective on the role of the environment in One Health
Human-wildlife conflict – resource | IUCN
Humans give more viruses to animals than they give us, study finds | Reuters