Wildlife consumption and pandemics
Several IPBES colleagues wrote a guest article to reflect the relationship between COVID-19 and environmental degradation (COVID-19 Stimulus Measures Must Save Lives, Protect Livelihoods, and Safeguard Nature to Reduce the Risk of Future Pandemics, https://ipbes.net/covid19stimulus), it attracted a lot of retweets. However, I found it is too abstract and too far away to understand. The SARS and COVID-19 were both lead to a large outbreak in cities in China, even though the source of COVID-19 is still not finally identified, or maybe can’t be found in the near future. In urban areas of China, the distance between bats and people seems far away, as there is a very clear boundary between cities and their surrounding areas with wildlife. The urban population is high and the urban landscape was dominated by skyscrapers and impervious surfaces, which is difficult for the wildlife to survive. Where is the link between viruses and people? why cities in China are hotspots which were frequently attacked by these viruses?
There is a deep cultural link. Wildlife was widely consumed either as meat, or as medicine. There is an old saying: you are what you eat. So people think to eat lamb’s kidney benefit the human kidney, eat a monkey’s brain can benefit their own brain, so on. Chinese medicine also recognized many magic effects of wildlife, like caterpillar fungus which was claimed can improve various health conditions, including fatigue, chronic inflammation, and male impotence (https://www.pnas.org/content/115/45/11489). Donkey-hide gelatin, gelatin obtained from the skin of the donkey by soaking and stewing, is believed that it can treat a variety of conditions such as bleeding, dizziness, insomnia and a dry cough. Especially the product, generally called E-jiao, was thought good for woman’s skin, and was widely selected as a gift during holidays (https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1730). The pangolins are trafficked mainly for their scales, which are believed to treat a variety of health conditions in traditional Chinese medicine, and as a luxury food in Vietnam and China. Other wildlife products like tiger-bone, penis cervi and even edible bird’s nest.
caterpillar fungus, which is an important source of income for thousands of people on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau
E-jiao, a product obtained from the skin of the donkey, was advertised to have many magic effects, especially good for lady’s skin
All these years, the demand for these wildlife products is soaring, as when people get rich, they want to live longer and healthier. The Chinese culture of children shows their respect and love of their parents (孝), also leads to a large scale of buying and consuming of these products. Wildlife breed is very popular these years, with some farmers raise thousands of wildlife.
Besides the wildlife for food and medicines, some animals were breed for their fur. I have visited a factory in Shandong province, where thousands of fox was raised, the fox fur was used to make coats and trade to other countries.
Although there are links among wildlife, virus and human health, more work should be done to examine the story behind the grand narratives. State governments like Germany and Chile have asked IPBES to do an assessment on biodiversity and pandemics, I think this is a good opportunity to explore the linkages between wildlife and diseases, or pandemics. I have contacted the national focal point to do the same but it seems they are not willing to.
