China Declares All-Out War on Wildlife... Economic Impact of 90 Trillion Won

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] China, severely hit by the spread of COVID-19, has declared an all-out war against wildlife by passing a bill banning the trade and consumption of wild animals. An economic impact of approximately 90 trillion won related to wildlife is inevitable.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 25th, the 16th meeting of the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee held in Beijing the previous day passed a bill banning the trade and consumption of wild animals.

Under China's current Wildlife Protection Law, only important wild animals designated by the state and those that have gone through illegal distribution processes were prohibited from being consumed. However, with the passage of this decision, the ban on consumption has been expanded to include all wild animals. The decision to ban wildlife trade and consumption will take effect immediately from that day.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, as the habit of eating dishes made from wild animals emerged as a social issue, the Chinese government pulled out the card to ban trade and consumption targeting all wild animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that COVID-19 likely originated from bats, passed through pangolins as intermediate hosts, and then transmitted to humans.

Environmental and wildlife protection advocates welcome the government's decision.

However, since the economic scale related to wildlife trade and consumption is already significantly established in China, there are growing concerns about the economic entities inevitably suffering from the sudden government decision.

SCMP reported, based on a 2017 report by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, that the scale of China's wildlife trade and consumption industry is 520 billion yuan (approximately 89.7 trillion won). It is estimated that about 14 million people are engaged in this sector. About 7.6 million, roughly half of the industry workers, are involved in the fur and leather industry, which is estimated to have an economic scale of about 390 billion yuan. Additionally, about 6.2 million people are engaged in wildlife breeding and food processing related fields.

Yang Heqing, Deputy Director of the Economic Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, said, "In some impoverished areas within Guizhou and Guangxi provinces, wildlife breeding has become a major source of income for residents. Due to this decision, their economic losses have become inevitable, and local governments must provide economic support to them," he advised.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.