Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic led to global concerns about the delicate relationship between humans and wildlife. However, quantitative research on the elements of a wildlife management policy framework in a certain country is lacking. In this study, we try to close this research gap by analyzing the formulation preferences of key elements in the wildlife management policy framework, as well as the coordination between them, in China, which is generally regarded as a main wildlife consumption country. Based on the content analysis of China’s wildlife management policy documents, with a three-dimensional analytical framework, we find that: China’s wildlife management policy framework prefers the use of compulsory tools, while voluntary and mixed tools are not fully used; adequate attention is paid to the biodiversity conservation objectives and attention is paid to the objectives of public health protection and wildlife welfare, while the utilization objective is restricted to some extent; government sectors, industry, citizens, and non-governmental organizations are involved in wildlife management policies and the degrees of participation of citizens and non-governmental organizations are relatively low. In conclusion, we draw wider implications for China’s wildlife management policy formulation, arguing for a more coordinated and participatory policy framework.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely disrupted the global society and economy
As COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease and the earlier cases were found in Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, the wildlife consumption in China led to global concerns about the relationship between wildlife and humans
Just as found by the aforementioned one-dimensional analysis that voluntary tools are least used among China’s wildlife management policy tools, the two-dimensional matrix coding further shows that among the policy tools allocated to citizens, voluntary tools account for only 33.73%, which is much lower than compulsory tools (59.59%)
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely disrupted the global society and economy. As COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease and the earlier cases were found in Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, the wildlife consumption in China led to global concerns about the relationship between wildlife and humans. According to the data by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, a total of million pangolins were captured in the period from 2000 to 2013, and China is one of the largest markets of trafficked pangolins [3]. Policymakers, and scholars have recognized, given that China has some of the richest biodiversity, and a large amount of wildlife consumption, in the world, any strategy to address wildlife conservation and human health risk should take account of the situation in China
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