1 Baka Darwin Initiative project: Introduction to the project

1. Enabling Baka attain food security, improved health and sustain biodiversity Julia E. Fa, Eva Ávila Martin, François Fouda,Stephan M Funk, Robert Okale, Guillermo Ros Brull Lecture 1: Introduction to the Darwin Initiativeproject

2. A series of nine lectures the present introductory lecture to the Darwin Initiative project an introduction lecture following the first chapter of our recent book Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics (Cambridge University Press , 2022) Seven lectures on outcome of the project The course

3. The Darwin Initiative project

4. Aims • Harmonise local production and consumption of seasonal foods (including wild foods), • Generate produce surpluses that can be fairly-traded, and • Enable hunting systems that encourage sustainable wildlife extraction. The combination of these activities will allow more inclusive processes to improve the study region’s agri-food systems, and as a result reduce the impact on wildlife.

5. Summary I • We focused on understanding the use of domestic crops and wild foods by Baka to determine their relative importance in satisfying the target populations’ nutritional needs • We assessed the health status of a large sample of villagers to determine levels of malnutrition and disease, and where possible to establish links with foods consumed • We encouraged families to produce more and better locally grown food crops, so that these can bridge nutrient gaps unmet by natural resources.

6. Summary II • The reliance on wild meat is inversely related to other incomes • suggesting a gap filling function • We aimed to improve the food security at the same time as protecting biodiversity • by enabling better domestic food production alongside encouraging the sustainable extraction of wild resources

7. Summary III • Our project has moved closer towards achieving this by: • harmonising local production and consumption of domestic and wild foods across seasons • generating domestic produce surpluses which can generate income to replace an over-reliance on wild meat trade, and this information will feed into • enabling hunting systems that encourage sustainable wildlife extraction • understanding the status of, and pressures on, threatened species.

8. Underlying project principles • We help to promote inclusion and self-determination of indigenous populations • We work to inform policymakers of the traditional indigenous customs, knowledge, and livelihood practices to understand, prioritise, and make decisions that reduce harm created by future forest policies. • Will create capacity to maximise understanding of the knowledge exchange among indigenous populations, policy experts, and conservation scientists. • We apply evidence-based science by publishing our results in peer-reviewed journals

9. Project partners and collaborators Partners Collaborators College of Bertouaand University of Douala, Cameroon, studying ethnobotany Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, studying impact of ammunition lead on wildlife and humans Nature Heritage, Jersey, for data analysis Tropical Forest and Rural Development Association, Cameroon, studying agricultural practices • Zerca y Lejos: a Spanish NGO • Cameroon-CIFOR: the country office of the Center for International Forestry Research • MINFOF: the Cameroonian government body for the protection of forests and wildlife • MMU: Manchester Metropolitan University

10. Baka Pygmies in southeast Cameroon Great social and political disadvantage since many have been displaced from the forest to settlements along the main roads The health as well as livelihoods of these people is at risk These communities are under huge political, economic, ecological and social pressures Inter-ethnic conflicts are also common Issues resulting from the recent rise in the numbers of protected areas in the country have increased evictions, displacement and widespread multiple human rights violations They have witnessed the gradual reduction of access to forest resources, especially to game and edible wild plants Study population

11. We use the general, value-neutral definition of Pygmy (Pygmée in French) to describe hunter-gatherers of small stature in the Congo basin “In anthropology, member of any human group whose adult males grow to less than 59 inches (150 cm) in average height…” (Britannica, n.d.). “Capitalized: any of a small people of equatorial Africa ranging under five feet (1.5 meters) in height” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). The term is sometimes considered pejorative especially as the non-capitalized form can mean “an insignificant or unimpressive person” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.) A comment regarding the term ‘Pygmy’ I Baka hunter, Photo: Darwin Initiative project

12. A comment regarding the term ‘Pygmy’ II • A replacement has not been universally agreed upon and has not the same easy and widespread recognition • Duda (2017) writes we ‘‘…mostly use it for reason of convenience, when discussing about cross-cultural researches and commonalities between groups’’ • Survival International, Groupe International de Travail pour les PeuplesAutochtones and other charities dedicated to the rights of tribal peoples continue to use the capitalized term Baka hunter, Photo: Darwin Initiative project

13. Study sites • 10 study villages • south of the Dja Biosphere Reserve andDja Faunal Reserve

14. Who are the Baka?

15. Pygmies in the Congo Basin • Pygmy communities identify themselves as ‘forest peoples’ • Each is a distinct people, such as the Twa, Aka, Baka and Mbuti living in countries across central Africa • Different groups have different languages and hunting traditions • Most are highly mobile and depend on the forest • Although each community faces different threats and challenges, racism, conflict with logging and conservation are major problems for many Mbuti Pygmy men in the Congo forest carry hunting nets and spears. Photo: AP

16. Pygmies are among the oldest populations in the world • The ancestors of the KhoeSan Peoples from southern Africa likely separated from a proto-Pygmy/non-Pygmy group about 110,000 years ago (Veeramah et al. 2012) • Ancestors of present-day African Pygmies and farmers separated ~60,000 years ago • Around 20,000 years ago Western and Eastern population separated A general demographic model of rainforest hunter-gatherer RHG and neighbouring Bantu speaking farmer populations BSP. From Patin & Quintana-Murci 2018 

17. Genetic relationship with their neighbours Genetic analysis using genome-wide singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for 1318 individuals from 35 linguistically and anthropologically well-defined populations of western and western central Africa (Patin et al. 2017) • most western and eastern rainforest hunter-gatherer (Pymy) groups (wRHG, eRHG) have little genetic admixture with the neighbouring Bantu speaking populations (BSP) • vice versa is more admixture

18. Pygmy groups Baka Baka. Photo Discover Africa

19. Relationships with non-Pygmy neighbours I • Pygmy identity is not based on their languages, which have often been borrowed from neighbouring non-Pygmy farmer communities with whom each Pygmy group is linked (Bahuchet 2012) • While using a single mother tongue inside their communities, Pygmies interact with surrounding farmers by using other languages • A constant feature among all Pygmies, semi-nomadic or sedentary, is that they all maintain relations (mainly economical) with neighbouring non-Pygmy farmers Bantu field owner and Pygmy labourer. Photo: Arnaud Zajtman

20. Relationships with non-Pygmy neighbours II • Social system ranging • from patron-client relationships (the farmers and the Pygmies, respectively) • the most common situation for Baka • to quasi-equality • rare for Baka Size comparison between Pygmies, English officers, Sudanese and Zanzibaris (1890). From: Wikiwand

21. Pygmies of Cameroon • Baka • traditionally semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers • numbering more than 40,000 • in the southeast • Bakola (also called Bagyeli) • approximately 3,700 people • central coastal region • Bedzang • less than a thousand people • central region • about 0.4 % of the total population of Cameroon (Pemunta 2013) Credit: Survival International / Conservation Watch

22. Sedentarization I • In the early 1960s, the French colonial administration began establishing road side camps for the Baka Pygmies around Bantu villages as part of efforts to move them onto permanent settlements along major and secondary roads so as to improve health conditions and to make them part of the mainstream economy by encouraging them to produce cash crops. Photo: Darwin Initiative project

23. Sedentarization II • Crucially (Pemunta 2013): • Pygmy villages have NO legal status, although the Pygmy communities found around major roads have been in this area since the 1960s, during which concerted efforts were made to encourage them to sedentarize • On lands offered them by the Bantus by virtue of the customary relations between the two groups. • These Bantus consider the Pygmies as their ‘‘property’’ and treat them as such. • The Pygmy communities settled at the outskirts of Bantu villages and their camps are considered as appendices or parts of those villages. Photo: Darwin Initiative project

24. Sedentarization III • Changes in Baka society is due partly to the adoption of cultivation of their own fields, sedentarisation and the penetration of money and commoditisation of the local economy (Kitanishi, 2006; Oishi, 2016). • Despite concerted efforts towards sedentarisation, the Baka have, however, not parted with their culture and tradition Photo: Darwin Initiative project

25. Sedentarization IV • The official dispossession of the Pygmies through the non-recognition of their villages has implications (Pemunta 2013): • politically, now own representation • economically, they are excluded from the benefits of forest taxes and forest resource exploitation • socially, the people live in a precarious and permanent situation for fear of imminent expulsion from the villages • ‘‘External domination of hunter-gatherer groups is increasingly structured by the bureaucratic state rather than the market’’ (Hitchcock and Holm 1993)

26. Precarious health situation • Poor nutrition levels in the Baka has been shown by various authors (Egbe, 2012; Kitanishi, 2006) • Limited access to and discrimination in public health centres (Carson et al., 2019) • Baka are more likely not to use modern health care in comparison to their non-Pygmy neighbours • Effects of exclusion from their traditional land (Jackson, 2006). • Twa Pygmies in Uganda • exclusion from their traditional land in the 1990’s caused severe poverty and hardship and high mortality rates amongst under-five year olds • after Twa families were given land and hunting rights, mortality rates dropped from 59% to 18%, demonstrating the crucial importance of land for survival

27. Mortality rates Life expectancy at birth of indigenous People versus their neighbours by World Bank income level (Anderson et al. 2016) • The lowest life expectancy was in Baka • 36 years • The largest gap in life expectancy between indigenous People and their neighbours was for Baka • 22 years! • Aka in CAR and the Twa in Uganda have infant mortality rates 1.5-4 times higher than their non-Pygmy neighbours (Jackson, 2006).

28. Context Cameroon

29. Characteristics • ~26.5 million people • over 250 languages • one of the most culturally diverse countries in Central Africa • Independence: January 1, 1960

30. Precolonial History I • Genetic evidence: Western Pygmy people for at least 60,000 years (Patin & Quintana-Murci 2018) • Archaeological evidence for human occupation in Cameroon: • >35,000 years in Njuinye (Mercader & Martin 2003) • ~10,000 YA at Shum Laka rock shelter (Lavachery 2001) Shum Laka rock shelter. Photo: Pierre de Maret

31. Precolonial History II • Portuguese arrived in 1472 • Outbreaks of malaria prevented large-scale European colonization of Cameroon until the late 1870s • Slave trade and ivory trade • Nomadic Islamic Fulani migrated to what is now northern Cameroon in the beginning of the 19th century • Peoples who fled the Fulani caused a major redistribution of population. • In the late 19th century, European Christian missionaries established a presence in the country Source: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (Dec. 1865–May 1866), vol. 32, p. 719

32. Colonial history • German Kamerun (1884-1918) • Franco-British rule (1918-1960) • French Cameroon, the majority of the country • Small British areas in the West: Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons • CC BY-SA 3.0 Source Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

33. Next: Eating wild animals Chapter 1 of thebookHunting Wildlife in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics by Fa, Funk & Nasi (2022)

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