A workshop for Cambodian journalists held under the theme “Protect Our Wildlife, Reduce Demand for Consumption of Wildlife”. Heng Chivoan
Experts from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Cambodia are hitting home the message that there is no scientific evidence behind beliefs that consuming wildlife brings benefits to human health or can cure diseases.
Som Sitha, project manager of the Koh Kong and Mekong Conservation Project at WCS, said such unfounded beliefs held by some Cambodians were leading to the deaths of wild animals purely for their meat.
Sitha was speaking at a workshop for Cambodian journalists held under the theme “Protect Our Wildlife, Reduce Demand for Consumption of Wildlife”.
The workshop was organised by USAID Cambodia Green Future and held at the Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh on October 12.
“Some people believe that eating wildlife helps human health and cures various diseases. This is just a baseless belief, and from a scientific point of view there is no evidence for this.
“But while just belief, this creates a demand for people to buy or catch wildlife for food or medicine,” Sitha said.
He added that all species of wildlife were important for the balance of ecosystems and the natural food chains, with each animal playing a different and important role.
“For example, the tiger in the ecosystem is important. With it eating other species, in the case of tigers disappearing from a habitat, the numbers of other animals will be out of balance in the environment.
“Losing any kind of animal from these complex systems would lead to impacts of some kind, which would not be seen immediately but over a long period of time,” Sitha said.
Losing species also carried a huge financial cost, he added, with the protection of wildlife contributing greatly to the development of the Cambodian economy.
“In protected areas, people would find greater economic benefit from working in conservation or through the sustainable use of natural products such as wild mushrooms and honey.
“Wildlife protection also contributes to attracting visitors and encourages the lucrative tourism industry. At the same time, wildlife contributes to the country’s image – it would drastically affect our whole society’s image if we were to lose these animals,” he said.
USAID Cambodia Green Future stated in posters displayed at the workshop that any claim of eating wild animals being beneficial to health was a dangerous fallacy passed along without any shred of evidence.
On the contrary, research has shown that handling and consuming wild animals can in fact transmit diseases from animals to humans.
For example, Covid-19, which shook the world in 2019 and has cost millions of lives worldwide, is believed by scientists at the World Health Organization to have been transmitted by bats and pangolins in Asia.
Ouk Sisovann, chief of party of USAID Cambodia Green Future, said USAID was actively working with young people in raising awareness and changing attitudes towards the purchasing and eating of wildlife.
“Youth participation in these projects, which demonstrate the importance of the conservation of forests, wildlife and the environment, contributes greatly to reducing demand for the consumption of wildlife,” he said.
