Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Double Bind Media, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Conserv Biol. 2024 Oct;38(5):e14339. doi: 10.1111/cobi.14339.
Environmental regulations restricting the use of a natural resource or species often have unintended consequences. One example is prohibitions on the international trade in culturally important endangered wildlife. Trade restrictions may artificially increase scarcity and, consequently, value. In China, international trade restrictions may trigger bouts of speculative investment that have the opposite effect of the restrictions' intent. We examined how China's speculative economy and cultural history have together led to unintended consequences when regulating wildlife trade. In China, wildlife markets occupy a legal gray area that can make regulations ineffectual or even counterproductive. In extreme cases, prohibiting trade can provoke market booms. Further unintended consequences include potential cultural backlash. In China and across the Global South, international trade restrictions are sometimes considered a continuation of a longstanding history of Western intervention and thus may not be enforced as strongly or may generate resentment. This pushback has contributed to rising calls to decolonialize conservation and may lead to growing alliances between China and other Global South countries when negotiating international wildlife trade restrictions in the future.
环境法规限制自然资源或物种的使用往往会产生意想不到的后果。一个例子是禁止文化上重要的濒危野生动植物的国际贸易。贸易限制可能会人为地增加稀缺性，从而导致价格上涨。在中国，国际贸易限制可能会引发投机性投资的爆发，这与限制的意图背道而驰。我们研究了中国的投机经济和文化历史是如何在监管野生动植物贸易时一起产生意想不到的后果的。在中国，野生动物市场处于法律灰色地带，这使得法规变得无效甚至适得其反。在极端情况下，禁止贸易可能会引发市场繁荣。其他意想不到的后果包括潜在的文化反弹。在中国和全球南方国家，国际贸易限制有时被视为西方长期干预的延续，因此可能不会被严格执行，或者可能会引起不满。这种抵制助长了保护去殖民化的呼声，并可能导致未来在谈判国际野生动植物贸易限制时，中国与其他全球南方国家之间建立越来越多的联盟。
