Contribution to the Inventory of "Protected Animals" Sold As Bush Meats in Some Markets of Nord Ubangi Province, Democratic Republic Of The Congo

The Province of “Nord Ubangi” is a forest ecosystem rich in biological resources among which one indicates the presence of the animals completely and/or partially protected by the law N0 82-002 of28 May 1982 bearing regulation of hunting in Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, these biological resources are overexploited because of uncontrolled hunting and the poaching. The aim of this study was to survey the animals partially and/or completely protected in DRC, sold on various markets of the principal cities of Nord Ubangi Province in the form of bush meats or known by the bordering population. A questionnaire was prepared and used including the names of the animals and their localizations. The present study identified 23 animal species partially protected (including 16 mammals, 05 birds and 02 reptiles) and 18 taxa completely protected (including 11 mammals, 05 birds and 02 reptiles). These results demonstrate the need for creating a protected area in order to safeguard this biodiversity. The development of a strategy for natural resources management through the Community based conservation would constitute for this purpose a better approach to prevent the land and conflicts, and thus to ensure an equitable sharing of benefits between the local communities. Thus, the creation of a priority protected area in Nord Ubangi according to this approach would make it possible to generate employment for the local population in accordance with the Access and benefits sharing and Bio-prospection of the Convention on biological diversity. For that, it is thus desirable that a participative cartography study with the local communities could be carried out in order to delimit the zones to be protected