Across West and Central Africa, bushmeat trade and consumption has been an age long practice. Escalating human population without commensurate economic growth has worsened the trend qualifying it to be considered a worldwide crisis. The Bushmeat crises threaten a large variety of mammals including great apes with extinction. While this complex crisis involves politics, economics and logging, etc; it is also rooted in values and beliefs. Values and beliefs, closely woven to culture and traditions, affect human behaviour towards wildlife and the natural world in general.
One of the greatest challenges of conservation today is how to negotiate human needs and desires with the needs of endangered species conservation.

There is serious need to explore the place of cultural values in the bushmeat crisis, Since Bushmeat hunting is one of the single most geographically widespread form of wildlife resource extraction and exploitation in the tropical forests. The slaughter and consumption of forest fauna have long been a traditional activity around west and central Africa as well as the world in general. Hunting has contributed to up to 80% of protein consumed by forest dwelling families in the Congo Basin (Koppet et al 1993). Recently however bushmeat hunting in Central and West Africa has been transformed into a commercial trade. It appears that the commercialization of Bushmeat hunting and consumption has led to the escalation of the extinction crises currently facing the great apes and other mammals of west and central Africa.

While the bushmeat trade is a complex, multifaceted problem, which is as complex as the rainforest itself the species affected, are as diverse as the human cultures of affected nations. It is also a crisis that is rooted in perceptions of wildlife and its value. Though there is considerable regional variation across the world. Bushmeat is often considered a delicacy in many rural and urban centers. Human populations are rapidly rising in urban centres of west and central Africa and preference for wild game and life animals in the international pet trade market ensured continued demands on diverse species leading to the current extinction crises.
Parents consume bushmeat, trade on it to derive income to train their kids and wards and their Children will also become future consumers, determining the fate of great apes and other wildlife within a vicious circle. Ultimately, it is hoped that greater understanding of baseline cultural values towards great apes and bushmeat will help ensure the development of effective sustainable conservation programs.

It is the realization of the above situation that led to governments interest to begin to seek lasting solutions to the crises and the basis for this article.

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