The Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Wildlife Wood Project, supported by Timbmet Silverman, is designed to ensure timber production forests are managed to help the survival of wildlife populations threatened by the bushmeat trade.
ZSL is undertaking a study to determine the scale of problems faced by wildlife in logged areas but said there was evidence that unregulated logging was partly responsible for an increase in the bushmeat trade in Africa’s tropical forests.
Timbmet Silverman has provided financial backing to the project and encouraged African timber suppliers to support ZSL field workers’ research.
“Sustainable forest management needs to take account of all forest resources, including wildlife, to achieve economic, social and environmental objectives,” Dr Glyn Davies, ZSL’s director of conservation programmes.
“We already have systems in place to ensure we source from well managed forests but we believe management plans need to embrace a wider range of issues, including bushmeat,” said Dr Mike Packer, Timbmet Silverman’s director of responsible business.
