African Perspectives on Genetic Resources

A five-day international workshop was recently convened at the Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku in Gabon to enhance international collaboration among Central African, US and European scientists, conservation professionals and policy makers. The overall aims of the workshop were to: (1) discuss emerging priorities in biodiversity and conservation genetics research across Central Africa, and (2) create new networking opportunities among workshop participants. Here we provide a brief overview of the meeting, outline the major recommendations that emerged from it, and provide information on new networking opportunities through the meeting web site.

I think the Orthopteristsʼ Society can be proud to have supported this event. I hope we will have modestly contributed to stimulate communication and exchanges between Orthopterists of the African continent, like-largely thanks to Mohamed Abdallahi-to a better information in this area of the world on our Society and its objectives. It is to be noted that the next conference of AAIS will be held in Nouakchott,

Foods

Entomophagy is an ancient and actually African tradition that has been receiving renewed attention since edible insects have been identified as one of the solutions to improve global nutrition. As any other foodstuff, insects should be regulated by the government to ensure product quality and consumer safety. The goal of the present paper was to assess the current legal status of edible insects in Africa. For that, corresponding authorities were contacted along with an extensive online search, relying mostly on the FAOLEX database. Except for Botswana, insects are not mentioned in national regulations, although the definitions for “foodstuff” allow their inclusion, i.e., general food law can also apply to insects. Contacted authorities tolerated entomophagy, even though no legal base existed. However, insects typically appear in laws pertaining the use of natural resources, making a permit necessary (in most cases). Pest management regulation can also refer to edible species, e.g., ...

Knuth, L. (2009). The right to adequate food and indigenous peoples. How can the right to food benefit indigenous peoples? Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 56 pp.

Revue Scientifique et Technique de l'OIE

Insect breeding or farming for food and feed is an emerging enterprise that can address the ever-growing demand for protein and curb high unemployment rates in Africa and beyond. However, for the sector to prosper, its value chain needs to be regulated to ensure sustainability and safety for consumers and the environment. Although a few African countries, such as Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, have promulgated standards on the use of insects as food and feed, greater efforts are needed in other countries, and relevant policies governing the sector need to be formulated. All over the globe, attention to the regulation of the edible insect sector is increasing, and more investment in the industry is foreseen. Safety issues such as identifying which species should be reared, substrate quality and traceability imposed by importing countries will be critical for expansion of the sector. This paper analyses safety, regulatory and environmental issues related to breeding and international trade of edible insects in Africa and provides case studies and recommendations for sustainable use of insects for food and feed.

Entomologia, 2014

In West Africa, as in many parts of the world, livestock and fish farming suffer from the increasing cost of feed, especially protein ingredients, which are hardly available for village poultry farming and small-scale fish farming. Insects, which are a natural food source of poultry and fish and are rich in protein and other valuable nutrients, can be used to improve animal diets, a practice which is now strongly promoted by the FAO as a tool for poverty alleviation. This paper reviews practices and research on the use of insects as animal feed in West Africa and the perspectives to further develop the techniques, in particular for smallholder farmers and fish farmers. The most promising insects are flies, especially the house fly (Musca domestica) (Diptera Muscidae) and the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) (Diptera Stratiomyiidae), which can be mass reared on-farm for domestic use, in small production units at the community or industrial level. Flies have the advantage over mo...

Journal of African Zoology, 1992

Journal of Insect Conservation, 2015

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Ife Journal of Science, 2014

With a rapid surge in human population, there has been concomitant increase in anthropogenic threats to biodiversity, especially for ecologically-important groups such as insects. With the loss of about 79% of its forest cover, Nigeria ranked as the nation with the highest rate of forest loss in 2005. How these and other environmental stressors affect insect biodiversity is yet to be fully understood. Nigeria, like most of the countries in the tropics is a treasure trove of insect diversity; however, limited information is available on the taxonomy, ecology, genetics and biogeography of its insect fauna. This dearth of background scientific knowledge impedes successful insect conservation policy and practice. Even though a National Biodiversity Action and Strategic Plan has been formulated in line with the targets of Convention on Biological Diversity, these clear knowledge gaps have to be recognized and filled for sustainable progress to be made in insect conservation. This review...

2009

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Frontiers of Biogeography, 2013

Parasites & Vectors, 2017

Background: Glossina pallidipes is a major vector of both Human and Animal African Trypanosomiasis (HAT and AAT) in Kenya. The disease imposes economic burden on endemic regions in Kenya, including southwestern Kenya, which has undergone intense but unsuccessful tsetse fly control measures. We genotyped 387 G. pallidipes flies at 13 microsatellite markers to evaluate levels of temporal genetic variation in two regions that have been subjected to intensive eradication campaigns from the 1960s to the 1980s. One of the regions, Nguruman Escarpment, has been subject to habitat alteration due to human activities, while the other, Ruma National Park, has not. In addition, Nguruman Escarpment is impacted by the movement of grazing animals into the area from neighboring regions during the drought season. We collected our samples from three geographically close sampling sites for each of the two regions. Samples were collected between the years 2003 and 2015, spanning 96 tsetse fly generations. Results: We established that allelic richness averaged 3.49 and 3.63, and temporal N e estimates averaged 594 in Nguruman Escarpment and 1120 in Ruma National Park. This suggests that genetic diversity is similar to what was found in previous studies of G. pallidipes in Uganda and Kenya, implying that we could not detect a reduction in genetic diversity following the extensive control efforts during the 1960s to the 1980s. However, we did find differences in temporal patterns of genetic variation between the two regions, indicated by clustering analysis, pairwise F ST , and Fisher's exact tests for changes in allele and genotype frequencies. In Nguruman Escarpment, findings indicated differentiation among samples collected in different years, and evidence of local genetic bottlenecks in two locations previous to 2003, and between 2009 and 2015. In contrast, there was no consistent evidence of differentiation among samples collected in different years, and no evidence of local genetic bottlenecks in Ruma National Park.

Frontiers in Biogeography, 2013

2013

Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 2018

The traditional consumption of edible insects is common in one third of the world's population, mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. There are over one thousand identified species of insects eaten in some stage of their life cycle; and they play important roles in ensuring food security. The most common way to collect insects are from the wild, which is seasonal with limited availability and has an increasing demand resulting in a disruption to the ecosystem. There is a growing interest shown in rearing insects for commercial purposes, and an industrial scale production will be required to ensure steady supplies. Industrial production will need to take into account the living environment of insects, the nutritional composition of their feed and the overall efficiency of the production system. We provide a short overview on the consumption of and rearing insects in Africa, Asia and Europe. For Africa, a snapshot is given for Nigeria, Ghana, Central African Republic, Kenya an...