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Greater China and Transnational Environmental Crime: Understanding Criminal Networks and Enforcement Responses
Abstract
This chapter is a case study of China-related transnational environmental crime with a special focus on
the illegal trade of three different categories of environmental goods (wildlife, timber and wood products, and ozone depleting substances) in mainland China and its three adjacent territories (Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). Through an examination of empirical data on seizures and bilateral trade from public sources, this chapter seeks to disentangle China’s present role and utility in the global and regional trade of the three selected environmental goods. In particular, analytical effort has been given to a range of key issues including: the nature and scale of the black market, the magnitude and diversity of the traded contraband, and the hot spots, routes and methods associated with smuggling activities. This chapter concludes with a brief analysis of the major legislative and enforcement challenges facing China in tackling environmental crime.
... Due to the lack of ability to enforce CITES, as shown by the trade of large volumes of illegally sourced animals in many parts of the tropics, IWT has weakened the treaty (30). Illegal global wildlife trade is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar market, making it one of the largest illegitimate businesses globally, and it often involves transnational criminal networks (31). This complexity has obstructed enforcement of laws on IWT, which have been most ineffective in tropical countries. ...
Bushmeat is not only an important source of fat, micronutrients, and macronutrients, but it also has medicinal uses. Extensive human–wildlife interactions may lead to pathogen exchange and trigger zoonotic infectious disease outbreaks such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola, and coronavirus disease 2019. In the tropics, bushmeat has become one of the most threatened resources due to widespread habitat loss and overexploitation, largely driven by increased global demand, weak governance, and lack of enforcement. Unsustainable harvesting, consumption, and production practices are common, although drivers are complex and intertwined and vary regionally, pointing to a looming rural nutrition security and wildlife conservation issue. Growing demand in fast urbanizing markets coupled with easy access fuels the illegal trade of bushmeat, medicinal products, and wildlife-based luxury goods. Although bushmeat contributes significantly to rural people's income and poverty alleviation, overharvesting impacts those who are most dependent on the forest. To balance the rural and cultural importance of bushmeat with conservation and public health priorities, strategies to safeguard tropical biodiversity, sustainable harvest of wildlife with reduced health risk for nutrition and medicine are urgently needed.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Volume 45 is October 19, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
... The limited amount of forest cover and the high demands for timber and wood products played a large role in encouraging illegal logging in Vietnam (McElwee 2004). In particular, Vietnam was one of five principal suppliers of illegal tropical hardwood in the Asia-Pacific region to China's wood imports (Jiao 2016). Illegal logging had a negative impact on NPs, affecting the native environment and the species within them, as well as resulting in economic and social consequences. ...
The national parks in Vietnam are protected areas in the national system of special-use forests created to protect natural resources and biodiversity. In order to improve the effectiveness of management of national parks, the study assesses some current aspects of conservation and management of natural resources with respect to management plans, financial sources, staff, cooperative activities, causes of limited management capacity and threats to natural resources. Out of the total of 30 national parks, six are under the responsibility of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) and 24 national parks are managed by provincial authorities. It was found that most of the national parks have updated their management plans. Financial sources of funding for national parks mainly originated from the central and provincial budgets, with an average of 51% and 76% respectively. Fifty percent of national parks spent 40–60% of their total funding on conservation activities. About 85% of national parks’ staff had academic degrees, typically in the fields of forestry, agriculture and fisheries. Biodiversity conservation was considered a priority cooperative action in national parks with scientific institutes. Major causes of a limited management capacity of national parks included human population growth and pressure associated with resources use, lack of funding, limited human and institutional capacity and land use conflict/land grab. Illegal hunting, trapping, poaching and fishing, the illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging and firewood collecting appeared to be the most serious threats to the conservation and management of natural resources. In addition to these results, significant differences were found between the VNFOREST and provincial parks in terms of financial sources, staff and the threat of illegal logging and firewood collecting. The authors’ findings offer useful information for national park planners and managers, as well as policy makers and researchers in seeking solutions for the sustainable management of natural resources in national parks.
... The limited amount of forest cover and the high demands for timber and wood products played a large role in encouraging illegal logging in Vietnam (McElwee 2004). In particular, Vietnam was one of five principal suppliers of illegal tropical hardwood in the Asia-Pacific region to China's wood imports (Jiao 2016). Illegal logging had a negative impact on NPs, affecting the native environment and the species within them, as well as resulting in economic and social consequences. ...
Escalating global demand for wildlife products and consequential illegal wildlife trade has become one of the major threats to biodiversity conservation. In the recent COVID-19 pandemic, growing public health risks of wildlife trade and consumption have triggered widespread public concern. In this review, we adopt a multidisciplinary perspective, including sociology, psychology, behavioral science and other disciplines, to understand the motivations for wildlife consumption in China, and to propose scientifically guided behavioral change countermeasures. The current state of wildlife consumption in China reveals certain functional, social, experiential and other non-essential needs of wildlife as major drivers of consumption, which are affected by a host of complex factors. Based on our understanding of the drivers of demand, we suggest using behavioral change frameworks, and a variety of behavioral change methods, including education, social influence, regulation and nudging, to effectively influence and change wildlife consumption behavior. For effective implementation of behavioral change strategies, collaboration needs to be strengthened, both among and across diverse disciplines, actors and scales of interest.
全球持续扩张的野生动物消费需求和相关非法贸易是生物多样性保护的重要威胁之一。近期新冠肺炎疫情 暴发, 野生动物贸易和食用的公共卫生安全风险也引起了社会各界的关注。本文从社会学、心理学、行为科学等 多学科的视角分析和理解我国野生动物消费的需求动因, 提出科学的行为改变对策。从我国野生动物消费现状来 看, 功能性、社会性和体验性等非生活必需性需求凸显, 并受复杂因素影响。基于对需求动因的理解, 运用合适的 行为改变框架, 以及宣传教育、社会影响、法律规范和行为助推等多种行为改变方法, 通过科学系统的阶段和步 骤, 可有效地影响和改变野生动物消费行为。行为改变对策的实施需在具体情境下加强合作, 重视多学科运用、 多主体合作和多尺度考虑。
The wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative trades in the world. The legal trade into the EU alone is worth EUR 100 billion annually, while the global illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between EUR 8 and 20 billion annually. The trade is highly complex and its legal and illegal forms are often connected. The illegal wildlife trade cannot be tackled via the use of trade policy alone; instead trade instruments need to be used in conjunction with broader means of addressing the wide range of reasons why wildlife is traded illegally first place. This includes the need to reduce poverty and inequality in source countries, demand reduction in consumer countries and tackling corruption, organised crime, poor enforcement and low penalties in many source, transit and end user markets. The EU is also facing some new challenges in the legal and illegal wildlife trade, emanating from the growth of e-commerce, expansion of private mailing centres and the growth of containerisation. The EU already has a strong track record in promoting a legal and sustainable trade, while also attempting to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. The EU already has a legal framework (EUWTR) which sets out stricter arrangements than CITES for trading in wildlife products. It has played an active role at CITES since it joined as a member in 2015, and all 20 EU proposals were accepted at CITES CoP17 in 2016. It now has an opportunity to use trade policy to embed and develop this track record further.
The wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative trades in the world. The legal trade into the EU alone is worth EUR 100 billion annually, while the global illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between EUR 8 and 20 billion annually. The trade is highly complex and its legal and illegal forms are often connected. The illegal wildlife trade cannot be tackled via the use of trade policy alone; instead trade instruments need to be used in conjunction with broader means of addressing the wide range of reasons why wildlife is traded illegally first place. This includes the need to reduce poverty and inequality in source countries, demand reduction in consumer countries and tackling corruption, organised crime, poor enforcement and low penalties in many source, transit and end user markets. The EU is also facing some new challenges in the legal and illegal wildlife trade, emanating from the growth of e-commerce, expansion of private mailing centres and the growth of containerisation. The EU already has a strong track record in promoting a legal and sustainable trade, while also attempting to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. The EU already has a legal framework (EUWTR) which sets out stricter arrangements than CITES for trading in wildlife products. It has played an active role at CITES since it joined as a member in 2015, and all 20 EU proposals were accepted at CITES CoP17 in 2016. It now has an opportunity to use trade policy to embed and develop this track record further.
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