Natural Environment Blog

Consumption of wildlife in China is on the increase according to a new report released by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. 

It is also revealed that many of the wildlife species being consumed are threatened species. 

The report, entitled State of Wildlife Trade in China 2007, is the second in an annual series produced by TRAFFIC on emerging trends in China’s wildlife trade. TRAFFIC works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.

Although wildlife consumption dropped following the SARS virus scare in 2003, it has since picked up again.

Wildlife For Sale

Dried plants and animals used for traditional Chinese medicine. Included are dried lingzhi, snake, turtle plastron, Luo han fruit, and ginseng.

TRAFFIC surveyed markets and restaurants in five cities in southern China. The survey revealed that 52 percent of markets and 40 percent of restaurants had wild animals for sale. 

A total of 56 species were found and, of these, eight are protected under Chinese law and 17 are protected under CITES, which prohibits or strictly controls international trade.

Wildlife found at the markets and restaurants included giant lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles, hawks, geckos, pangolin, bear paw. 

The wildlife consisted of:

• 39 reptiles (accounting for 70%)
• 4 mammals (7%) 
• 10 birds (18%) 
• 2 amphibians (4%)
• 1 fish (2%)

Most Popular Animals

The majority of illegal wild animal trade was in freshwater turtles and snakes. In particular, the report mentions the following:

• 600 freshwater turtles were found on sale at Qingping market (excluding those in warehouses) in Guangzhou, including the Malayan Box Turtle (Cuora amboinensis), Elongated Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) and Black Marsh Turtle (Siebenrockiella crassicollis)
• Almost 3,000 snakes were recorded in the survey, including the Taiwan beauty snake (Elaphe taeniura), Rat snake (Ptyas korros) and Tri-rope beauty snake (Elaphe radiata). The snake market was concentrated in Dongwang Frozen Product market (also known as the Chatou Wild Animal market) in Guangzhou.

Breakdown By City

The following table shows how many markets and restaurants were surveyed, along with the number of wild animals traded.

As mentioned previously, 52 percent of markets had wildlife for sale, as did 40 percent of restaurants surveyed.

Traditional Medicines

Although wildlife is often eaten from a dinner plate, it is also used in traditional medicines. 

The international trade in Chinese traditional medicine is growing at any annual rate of 10%. This, together with habitat loss, has impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, which have shrunk rapidly, with 15% to 20% of medicinal plants and animals now considered endangered.

Increasing Demand, Dimishing Supply

WWF, the global conservation organization, are calling on the Chinese to step up their efforts against illegal wildlife trade.

Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme says ”The trends seen in this report that show increasing demand in wildlife products and diminishing supply should be a wake up call for law enforcement, policy makers and consumers,”

She added, “We call upon Chinese authorities to enhance enforcement and public education efforts, to stop illegal trade and reduce consumption of threatened species from around the world.”

Illegal Ivory Trade

The survey, which also looked at the Chinese ivory trade, found that the illegal ivory trade is actually declining.  

While this is good news, TRAFFIC does point out that, due to increased enforecement, the illegal ivory trade is being pushed underground. Illegal ivory trade is more likely to take place in a hotel or via an online or offline auction.   

“The reduction in the illegal ivory trade is very welcome, but we urge the authorities to remain vigilant, particularly to ensure there is no laundering of illegal ivory,” said Professor Xu Hongfa, co-ordinator of TRAFFIC’s China Programme.

The World’s Second Largest Wood Importer

The report also looked into supply of wood, with China being the world’s second largest wood importer.

While Russia China’s largest wood supplier, are growing percentage of the nation’s wood comes from Africa. This increased demand is stimulting illegal timber trade in Africa.

“Chinese companies buying African timber must ensure the benefits of the timber trade are equitably shared, right down to the African rural communities on whose land the trees are growing,” said Professor Xu.

The Report

• View the TRAFFIC press release regarding the report (Word 332 KB)
• View the full report (PDF 2,311 KB)

In the lead up to China’s plastic bag ban, which commenced on June 1, there were many reports about mixed feelings. For example, although most people agreed plastic bags are a problem for the environment, many weren’t so enthusiastic about being charged for plastic bags.

Well, if this article from Zhejiang Online is anything to go by, there’s still hope yet.

On the first day of the plastic bag ban, in Hangzhou, supermarkets and free markets both experienced a large decrease in the use of plastic bags. This resulted in a large increase of the sale of environmentally friendly reusable shopping bags. Mr. Yang Juanmei, marketing manager of Huarun Wanjia Supermarket, said sales of eco-friendly shopping bags increased by 200 percent. And at the Yeqingdou Free Market, sales of environmentally friendly shopping bags matched that of the previous 7 days.

Also keep in mind that many people bought their reusable shopping bags/baskets prior to June 1. According to estimates from supermarkets and free markets, more than 50 percent of customers brought their own reusable shopping bags or baskets.

Furthermore, it seems that the elderly were more likely to bring their own shopping bags. Mr. Shen Shuangquan, manager of Yeqingdou Free Market estimated that, in the morning of June 1, 90 percent of shoppers - most of who are elderly - brought their own bags! As the day progressed, many younger shoppers came and purchased plastic bags.

77% Decrease in Plastic Bags!

And most importantly, if my interpretation is correct, in Wanshouting Free Market, the number of plastic bags provided decreased by 77 percent. As many as 100,000 plastic bags were provided in the old days, but on June, this number was closer to 23,000 (3-4000 sold to customers and 20,000 sold to vendors for fresh food, deli, and bakeries).

In other markets, the plastic bag reduction was less pronounced, but still significant.

I know it’s still early days, and Hangzhou has a relatively small population (6.5 million), but if this trend continues around the nation, China’s plastic bag ban will play a major part in worldwide efforts to reduce our plastic bag consumption.

As mentioned previously, China released new standards for plastic bags which will ban ultra thin plastic bags from being produced.

These standards are to take effect from today.

The new law also bans supermarkets and other retailers from providing free plastic bags to their customers. If a retailer wishes to provide plastic bags, they need to charge for them.

Some retailers are concerned about this. They’re worried that they will drive customers away if they charge too much for the plastic bags. Further to this, the plastic bags that are fully degradable are usually more expensive than the non/less-degradable bags. No doubt, this will also have an impact on supermarkets’ pricing decisions.

Hopefully the Chinese will embrace the idea that there are alternatives to plastic bags. Also, now that they’re being forced to pay for plastic bags, more Chinese will start taking their own reusable shopping bags to the supermarket. Given China’s enormous population, this should reduce the world’s plastic bag consumption quite considerably.

Having said this, only time will tell.