9 Baka Darwin Initiative project: Hunting rules and traditions in Baka People

1. Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity Lecture 9: Hunting rules and traditions in Bakapeople in southeasternCameroon Guillermo Ros Brull, Eva Ávila Martin, Robert Okale, Stephan M. Funk, and Julia E. Fa(unpublished)

2. Introduction

3. Governance models for land and wildlife use • In many sub-Saharan countries land and wildlife use is governed by legislative frameworks under strong centralized state control. • largely inherited from former colonial administrations • focused on protecting wildlife • fail to recognize peoples’ needs and customary local management systems and practices • promote a ‘fortress conservation’ model • In contrast is the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) paradigm • appeared during the late 1980s • to increase stakeholder participation • strategy to conciliate conservation and socio-economic development

4. Dual governance • A large part of the rural and Indigenous sub-Saharan populations live under dual governance systems • with the State on one side • customary law on the other • a set of “rules and standards that are understood by members of a group and that guide and or constrain human behavior” (Cialdini and Trost, 1998, p. 152) • Fostering interlinkages between these two governance systems can play an important role in promoting local development and good governance

5. Hunting • Hunting of wildlife by rural communities and Indigenous Peoples still remains an important means for • obtaining food • income since often part of the hunted game is sold • Throughout the tropics, there are concerns that overexploitation of wildlife can lead to • loss of an important source of dietary protein, micro-nutrients, and revenue for numerous rural poor that depend on it • Erosion of the cultural identities of many local and traditional people for which hunting is part of their heritage and sense of self

6. Aims and approaches • To understand the socio-cultural and ecological components of hunting activities performed by the Baka Pygmy communities in the Mintom region. • We employ an ethnoecological approach • aims to record and understand the set of rules shared by members of the Baka communities in relation to hunting activities performed by these

7. Materials and Methods

8. Information collected • Quantitative information: semi-structured interviews • to record traditional and actual methods employed by the hunter groups in our communities • to record hunter perception of how important this activity is in Baka social-cultural organization and how it is embedded deep in their daily lives • Qualitative information: focus groups • allow to promote dialogue and complementarity by stimulating discussions amongst the actors, allowing us to obtain insights in the actors’ lives in their own words • Data collected • emic data: actor’s own representations • etic approaches: measures of systematic data collection according to preestablished questions

9. Semi-structured interviews 1 • Questionnaires • peer-reviewed by colleagues in the field • Then tested and corrected in two pilot Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with hunters • Applied to small groups of two to four hunters • focused on general themes around hunting activities • hunting types • territories • seasonality • conflicts and conflict resolution • social rules • etc.

10. Semi-structured interviews 2 • In 10 Baka villages during 2018 • 102 hunters, all men • Conducted individually • Conducted by a Bantu-speaking interviewer in the Baka local language • Collected in the field using the mobile phone app ODK

11. Focus groups • conducted by two local interviewers in Fang • Fang is a common language between the Baka and the dominant Bantu-speaking inhabitants of the area • 16 focus group discussions • in 2019/20 • Interviewees were grouped by gender and age range • 18-21 years old • 22-39 years old • >40 years old • Total of 49 persons (21 women and 28 men) participants • 26 hours and 5 minutes of interviews recorded on a taperecorder

12. Ethics • Principle of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) was followed prior interviews and surveys • Interviewees were fully informed about the aims of the study • Anonymity assured • All hunters freely participated in our project without remuneration, gave verbal consent to do so, and could stop contributing to the project if they so wished • Permission to undertake field work was granted by the Cameroonian Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI)

13. Analysis • Semi structured interviews • downloaded onto a computer • analysed using Excel • Focus group interviews • transcribed and translated into French by the interviewer • to transform the information captured in the transcribed interviews into organized data we used the Grounded Theory methodology • textual fragments were first codified using thematic axes derived from the guideline • textual fragments of the interviews were coded based on the definition of concepts derived by us (hunting types, food taboos, knowledge transmission, sanctions, hunting rules, etc)

14. Results

15. Hunting strategies: three main types • Moulongo: expeditions • motivated by ozang(desire to eat wild meat) • organized hunting expedition where men, women and children participated • going from camp to camp in the forest during several months • food plant gathering and fishing and not entirely hunting • Maka • hunting expedition made up of young and vigorous men, up to 20 • advance quickly • purpose was specifically to hunt • In the context of preparing special events such as Edjengui ceremonies, mourning or funerals • Essendo • individual hunting during Moulongo or Maka • when the camp is established, individual hunters may go hunting by their way

16. Social aspects of hunting • collective activity, whether intra- or cross- community • although individuals may carry it out alone • hunting expeditions can also be carried out with neighbor Bantu communities • importance of hunting in group as manner to learn and share knowledge • hunting with members of other Baka communities serve • to strengthen social bonds, friendship and new family bounds, where gifts, sharing and reciprocity played an important role to keep good relationships

17. The end of a tradition and social coherence • Maka and Moulongo hunting expeditions are, however, no longer performed. • All the people interviewed under 40 years of age recognize they not carried out anymore and younger interviewees have just heard about it. • “I did not know Moulongo or Maka. It is impossible for me to spend a month in the forest like them. It was the elders who made Moulongo (laughs). I can do Essendo, but not their way; they could do the Essendo to the Congo. We no longer do Moulongo “

18. Hunting techniques 1 • marked difference between respondents • above 40 years old • refer to the hunting as a collective activity • hunting with dogs, traps and shotgun, spears, crossbows • between 18 and 39 years old • individualistic • hunting with dogs, traps and shotgun • Groups versus individuals • 90% of interviewees hunt alone, • 10% hunt in small groups ranging from 2 to 4 hunters

19. Hunting techniques 2 • Baka identify themselves as a spear hunters. • “A Baka was recognized above all by the carrying of the spear, his Koba (axe) which he never parted without it, his Sawala (a traditional bag made of animal skin) and the Limbembe (the loincloth made of tree bark).” • Hand capture (Noua): by men and women to catch turtles, vipers, and any small animals • 37 % use dogs • never cited as a main hunted strategy • Traps • changed from being made with natural fibers to use steel-wire snares • 11 trap types cited • 96% and 95% of the interviewees use traps in forest and fields, respectively • Pits are also a type of trap pointed by elders as a common technique; now not done

20. Hunting techniques 3 • Traditionally only spear and crossbow • Pkpadi was a type of short-handled crossbow; bamboo arrows with the tips coated with poison (grains of Stromphantusgrattus) • Tchabe, with a longer handle and consisting on a small arrow that is inserted into the shaft and propelled by powder • adopted from the Bantu and rapidly assimilated by the Baka given its similarity with the Pkpadi • Shotgun • More recently, Bantu began to lend shotguns to the Baka • Baka shared some of the hunted wild meat in return • 72% use shotguns • 2% own shotguns • young hunters prefer shotguns over spears and crossbows since they are within their reach and easier to use

21. Hunting techniques 4

22. Frequency of hunting trips • 2,98 ±1,09 average of hunting trips per week • 4,87 ±3,17 average day trips to set up traps • 1,43 ±1,22 average day of shotgun trips

23. Game composition • With traps • 22 animal species are cited as commonly hunted • Blue duiker Philantombamonticola: most cited species with 99 citations • African brush-tailed porcupine Atherurus africanus: 97 citations • Bay duiker Cephalophus dorsalis: 76 citations • With shotguns • 23 animal species are cited as commonly hunted • apes (singes): 85 citations • Blue duiker Philantombamonticola: 85 citations • Bay duiker Cepahlophus dorsalis: 63 citations

24. Hunters perceptions on animal abundance • 102 interviewees (92%) state that it takes more time to hunt an animal that 5 years ago • 97 state that elephants have decreased • on average, it was 17.17 +-21,69 months ago that the interviewees saw signs of an elephant for the last time • 59 state that great apes (chimpanzee and gorilla) have decreased • 86 state that giant pangolins have decreased • 49 state that duikers have decreased

25. Hunting ranges • Hunters normally refer to the territories as ‘free’, with no demarcated limits • See presentation #5 on hunting territories • Although the forest has no limits or owners for the Baka, it is tacitly recognized that each family carries out its activities in a specific area • Hunting grounds are mainly stablished according to geographic references • Distance from the village is an important criterion for hunting • Hunters typically return with the prey(s) to the village • Hunting grounds are commonly shifted due to the intensity of hunting, so after certain time hunters change the hunting area

26. Hunting range problems • The zoning of logging concessions fragments the hunting grounds affecting the free of moving • Also removing important trees for the Baka, • Protected Areas impede hunters to access traditional hunting grounds

27. Seasonality • Baka hunt during the hole year • The rainy season is most suitable for hunting. • Thus, most hunting is mostly carried out during the rainy season • 27% hunt during all the year • 74% do not hunt all year around • Fits well with agricultural activities • peak during the dry season

28. Consumption • 222 citations of 102 hunters • 22 species are cited as preferred • 16 species are identified as consumed most often • 93 citations: Philantombamonticola • 40 citations: Atherurus africanus • 34 citations: Cricetomysemini • 96,1% of the interviewees state that they also buy bushmeat

29. Social norms: food preferences and avoidances • 9 animal species are reserved for the elders • Viper • Turtle • Specific parts of the bush pig such as the tail, the viscera, the chest or peritoneum • Giant pangolin • Hyrax • African civet • Python • Rat • Reasons for prohibitions • to protect it from harm and illnesses • E.g. otter is prohibited for children because it is assumed to give tumours and bad smells • ancestorial custom • some cases, reasons are unknown but the animals are recognized as totemic animal or utilized as a fetish for rites • animals prohibited for children • Tortoise • White-bellied duiker • Leopard • Golden cat • Monitor lizard • Potto • Snail • Palm civet • African civet • Mongoose • Giant forest hog • Bongo • Otter • Genet • hyrax • animal viscera

30. Social norms: more food norms • All women do not eat a large number of species • Pregnant women are are not allowed to eat • Pangolin • black-backed duiker • Rat • guinea fowl • brown-cheeked hornbill • Turtle • Bongo • Cercopithecus pogonias • Cercopithecus cephus • Varanus • almost all the monkeys • soles of elephants' feet • porcupine skin • Bosman's potto • Pregnant women are are not allowed to eat • Animals of unusual appearances for fear that the formation of the child will be influenced • trapped by snares as this might case problems during child birth • Menstruating women do not eat • yellow-backed duiker • any fresh bleeding animal • It is forbidden to eat its head of hunted prey by a person other than the hunter • Forbidden to eat snakes when hunting, as it would makes all animals mean and aggressive • Rituals • For the first animal hunted, • Heart is cut it up and given to an adult who makes incantations and deposits it in the forest for the ancestors

31. Erosion of social norms • “Today are very complicated and annoying times, because it is common for children to go hunting and bring back a turtle and eat it themselves “ • “Have the rules changed now? (Screams and general hilarity) everything have changed. It is the very people who change them individually and transgress them, yes!!! The prohibitions of our time could cost you your life when you broke them. They (the young) say we are old fashioned “you keep the old rules of your ancestors it’s from your time, we follow new habits, modernity”. We want passing on this knowledge to them, when we are dead that they remain to perpetuate our custom “

32. Commercialisation • 85%state that they use bushmeat for own consumption • 98% interviewees states that they sell bushmeat to outside-of-the-village traders • 12% state they sell bushmeat to the local market • Selling meat is recent • “In our time our parents did not know about marketing, they only knew about sharing, it was the fundamental rule in society.” • “We were asked to leave the forest and come to the village and it is in the village that we face new needs: we have to buy everything, oil, soap, clothes and others-. Another interviewee says: We come to discover the marketing that when we arrived in the village, when we killed an animal, we started by offering to sell it to us, even the wild yams the Bantu come with money to offer us to sell it to them. “

33. Poachers • 67% of interviewees believe that commercialization is the main reason for non-local hunters coming to their hunting grounds • 53% state that have seen signs of poaching within their hunting grounds • “It is common to find foreign hunters in their hunting territories: Most often they come at night and we can't control them, sometimes we meet them in the forest and we can't do anything for fear of a fight. The problem is complex because the Baka often participate with the promoters of poaching, as one respondent says: Many come here to hunt. The big problem with this phenomenon is that some of the village hide or host these hunters, against everyone's will and we only see it when they leave. “

34. Forest conservation • According to those surveyed, forest conservation is important because of their dependence on it • In addition, they are concerned that future generations will not know about the animals that currently exist • The Baka elders complain that children are not interested in learning traditional knowledge • “If the forest ends it's bad because we will suffer, we the Baka totally depend on this forest.”

35. Discussion

36. Sedentarisation • The sedentarisation process have brought significant changes in the life style of Baka society • marked decline in physical and mental health (Dounias & Froment, 2006; The Lancet, 2016) • Changed diets and reduced food security • better diets of Baka Pygmies living in isolated villages compared to those in villages closer to markets (Avila et al, 2020; Reyes-García et al., 2019) • exposure of Baka society to the national economic and political systems, affecting their social-cultural organization and values where hunting is at the core

37. Sedentarisation and hunting • Within a generation, many aspects of hunting have changed: • Abandonment of traditional hunting weapons (spears, crossbows, traps made of plant materials) in favour of guns and traps made with cable wire • Abandonment of group hunting expeditions • Abandonment of food prohibitions • Greater emphasis on commercial sale of meat • Since no traditional Baka lands are formally recognised as belonging to these Indigenous Peoples, the continuation of traditions and way of life are threatened by the disenfranchisement caused by sedentarisation of the Baka population in our study area.

38. On behalf of • the Baka • the Project team THANK YOU MERÇI BIEN Photo: Darwin Initiative Project