21. The In-Session seminar had the twin aims of engaging the participants in a systematic decision analysis exercise and through this improving their understanding of the bushmeat issue. The seminar began with a presentation of the background paper, which introduced the issue of capacity building and described how the use of tools like Decision Analysis can contribute to enhanced capacity.
22. Following a discussion of the background paper the participants were requested to write down a brief statement of their understanding of the bushmeat issue. An analysis of their statements resulted in the identification of the following four elements of the bushmeat issue: [1] law enforcement, [2] sustainability of the bushmeat trade, [3] species survival, [4] poverty.
23. The participants were divided into four groups that were given the task of elaborating each of the four elements of the bushmeat problem and proposing at least one solution to each element of the problem. At the completion of this exercise, each of the groups reported on the results of their work.
24. In a plenary discussion of the results of the group work, the proposed solutions to each element of the problem were listed and the four groups then reconvened, with each being responsible for developing ways of implementing the solutions that had been proposed to one of the elements of the problem. The results of this further group work were then presented in a plenary session.
25. The overall results of the in-session seminar will be presented in a detailed report, which will be distributed to participants.
26. The Working Party called upon FAO to ensure that the work of the in-session seminar results in concrete action addressing the issues that were discussed.
27. FAO raised the issue of intersessional activities and proposed that a useful activity would be an e-conference on prioritizing elements of the outputs of the Vth World Parks Congress that are of particular relevance and importance to Africa.
28. The Working Party called upon FAO to demonstrate its understanding and recognition of the importance of wildlife on the African continent by appointing a wildlife officer in the Regional Office in Accra.
29. The Working Party further called upon FAO to help countries to develop networking on protected area issues.
30. It was recommended that FAO, in consultation with the Working Party, does pilot work on bushmeat. The delegates agreed that FAO should be provided with criteria for selecting countries for piloting and five delegates were deputed to formulate these criteria.
31. Attention was drawn to the magnitude and seriousness of the issue of human-wildlife conflict and the Working Party recommended that this issue should be the subject of the next in-session seminar.