Trade of wild animals and plants in China-Laos border areas: status and suggestion for effective management

Abstract

An investigation was conducted on wild plants and animals trade in China_Laos border areas. The results showed that during the period of 1997～1998, the annual amount of the trade was over 10 million US dollars, of which about 5 million US dollars through legal channel and 3.8 million US dollars registered in Xishuangbanna Transboundary Trade Management Bureau. Our study recorded 51 species of wild plants in the transboundary trade, including 35.3% species prohibited for trade and 43.14% species with export_amount limitation by Laos government. There were about 134 species of animals in the trade, including 56 species of mammals, 45 birds, 31 reptiles, one fish and one species of amphibian. Among which, 71 species were forbidden for trade by some international conventions, 19 species were categorized as first_class protected in CITES, and 32 species as second_class protected. In legal trade, the price of wild plants and animals increased by 20%～70% in average from the collectors to the first peddlers. When the products were transported to Mengla County of Yunnan Province, the price increases about 2.7 times of the original price, if transported to other places outside Yunnan Province, the price was about 3.6 times of the original. The price of illegal trade was about 2.7～4.5 times higher than the legal one, and most of the profits was obtained by intermediary traders. Local collectors gained a relatively small part of the profit, however, they could still get 0.6～2.8 US dollars per person per day, which was higher than other agricultural activities such as paddy rice or upland rice cultivation in this area. We also put forward some suggestions for effective management of the trade of the animals and plants in the China_Laos border areas.