Banning wild meat could add to global food problems

Banning wild meat could add to global food problems A blanket ban on the trade of wild meat could create risks for nature and for human health, according to a new study. Governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) are under pressure from wildlife protection and animal welfare campaigners to ban hunting of all wild animals for food, and end trade in wildlife. But findings published in Current Biology by a team of international researchers including the University of Leeds indicates that such a ban might not only increase food insecurity for some countries and marginalised groups, it may also damage the biodiversity and habitats that campaigners are trying to protect. International attention on wildlife trade has increased during the past year, after the earliest cases of COVID-19 were linked to a “wet market” — a market selling fresh meat, fish, fruits and vegetables — in China. Calls to ban the trade and consumption of wildlife to protect public health and biodiversity quickly followed. Blanket bans on wildlife trade are unlikely to be good for either biodiversity or people. Researchers assessed the hypothetical negative impacts of such a ban on the food systems of 83 countries, to enable legislators and governments to consider the potential unintended consequences of this policy intervention.