Wildlife Consumption, Health, and Zoonotic Disease in China After the Emergence of COVID-19.

There has been much discussion in the conservation and policy realms of COVID-19 as a zoonotic disease, or a disease transmitted from wildlife to humans. However, wildlife consumption in China is not only a potential source of disease but also a practice embedded in complex beliefs about health. This paper used survey data (N = 974) collected in China in June 2021 to examine attitudes and behaviors related to (a) wildlife consumption, (b) Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and (c) zoonotic risk after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. 40.1% of respondents self-reported that they are less likely to consume wild animals since the outbreak of COVID-19. Respondents who used wildlife supplements for TCM, who believed in the benefits of wild animal consumption and fresh slaughter of wildlife, and who had higher levels of agreement with the zoonotic origin of COVID-19 were more likely to report that they had decreased their wildlife consumption after the outbreak of COVID-19. Use of wildlife in TCM significantly increased the odds that a respondent believed that COVID-19 was very likely zoonotic. We discuss how situating wildlife consumption within complex beliefs about health and disease can assist with protecting wildlife and public health in the wake of COVID-19.

Perceptions of COVID-19 origins and China's wildlife policy reforms.

Given the link between perceptions of zoonotic risk and support for regulations such as wildlife consumption bans, debates regarding the origins of COVID-19 are likely to have conservation implications. Specifically, alternative hypotheses that cast doubt on COVID-19's zoonotic origins could potentially lessen momentum for China's wildlife policy reforms and their associated conservation impacts. To better understand the impact of COVID-19 origin debates on China's wildlife policies, we conducted a 974-respondent survey across mainland China, supplemented by policy and media reviews. We examined perceptions of three facets of COVID-19 origins: geographic location, source (e.g., wildlife farm, wet market, etc.), and specific wildlife species as transmitters. Our findings reveal that 64.6 % of respondents believed COVID-19 originated in the United States or Europe, not in China. Further, compared to the baseline group of respondents who selected China as the origin country, respondents who selected the United States or Europe as the origin had a greater likelihood of selecting laboratories/research and imported frozen foods as likely sources, while these respondents had a lower likelihood of selecting wild animals in a wet market or natural causes as likely sources. Despite such varied beliefs regarding COVID-19 origins, support for wildlife policy reforms was strong: 89.5 % of respondents who previously consumed wildlife self-indicated reduced consumption after the pandemic and 70.5 % of respondents supported banning the trade of all wildlife species. Moreover, those respondents who selected wild animals in a wet market as a likely source of COVID-19 had a greater likelihood of supporting a trade ban on all wild-caught wildlife and all farmed wildlife. Our results indicate that, although investigation of COVID-19's origins is on-going and politicized, there is clear support for wildlife reforms in China that can promote conservation outcomes.

Improving the sustainability of the wheat supply chain through multi-stakeholder engagement.

Feeding the world's growing population, while producing economic benefits with limited environmental effects, is a major challenge faced by global food supply chains. This is especially apparent when the production stage is predominated by smallholders as they each face varying economic and environmental demands, making it difficult to mobilize them on the ground. This study investigated how the environmental and economic sustainability of wheat supply chains could be improved by analyzing the performance of all stakeholders, especially the smallholders. Results showed that 77% of GHG emissions came from wheat cultivation, and less than 8% of the total economic benefits were recouped during this stage. In contrast, smallholders in the Science and Technology Backyards, reduced their GHG emissions by 16.4% and improved their economic benefits by 1.3- fold. Furthermore, a 2.6-fold increase in profit (1808 USD) with GHG emission reduction was achieved simultaneously by integrating all individual stages as a whole. This study found that the sustainability of the wheat supply chain was mainly affected by wheat cultivation. It also demonstrated the potential efficacy of empowering smallholders and integration of all individual stages as a whole to improve the sustainability of food supply chains.

Optimizing wheat production and reducing environmental impacts through scientist-farmer engagement: Lessons from the North China Plain.

Producing high economic benefits and high grain yields with limited environmental impacts is crucial for feeding the world's growing population. Yet it remains challenging to improve the performance of one objective without creating unintended consequences for other objectives. This is especially difficult for smallholders navigating a diverse array of environmental and personal demands. This study demonstrates how combining participatory research through the Science and Technology Backyards (STB) approach with Pareto-based ranking modeling can increase smallholder production while also reducing environmental impact. Through an intensive farmer survey in a 1 × 1 km grid in Quzhou County, we demonstrate that farmers engaged in STBs performed better according to multiple objectives (i.e., optimizing overall grain yield, benefit-cost ratio, and GHG emissions, without compromising any one of these objectives) than farmer's not engaged in STBs. Moreover, we used a Pareto optimization approach (OPT) to determine the optimal smallholder scenario. We found that under OPT, grain yield could reach 9.5 t/ha, with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.1, a 100% N recovery efficiency, and 7,395 kg CO2eq ha-1 GHG emissions. With OPT as a final goal, our research team worked with STB farmers to improve economic and environmental outcomes without compromising yield. Our findings demonstrate that no significant difference was obtained between farmers engaged in STBs and these under OPT. Compared with non-STB farmers, STB farmers' grain yield improved by 18%, benefit-cost ratio improved by 26% due to improved N recovery efficiency, and GHG emissions were reduced by 31%. These improvements demonstrate the power of scientist-farmer engagement for optimizing wheat production. Such engagement allows farmers to modify their agronomic practices to more closely match Pareto optimal conditions, thus improving environmental and economic benefits without compromising yield. Our results provide solid evidence of the potential for sustainable wheat production by combining modeling with participatory research.

Understanding China's wildlife markets: Trade and tradition in an age of pandemic.

Environmentalists have long been concerned about the rate at which China is consuming and trading in threatened and endangered wildlife. The recent COVID-19 global pandemic has made wildlife consumption an issue that concerns everyone around the world. Formerly obscure practices like wet markets and commodities like pangolin scales or bear bile have gained international notoriety. Along with that attention has come increasing politicization and ideological polarization. Beyond the global fight against the pandemic, there has been another global struggle over the meaning and origin of the disease, as evidenced by the spread of terms like "Wuhan Flu" and "bat soup." What has become obscured by the news cycle struggling to keep up with the rapid spread of the virus and the political sound and fury surrounding it is any meaningful understanding of China's wildlife consumption and trade. Deeply ingrained in Chinese culture and history, the wildlife trade is not going away anytime soon. Despite a national ban, already wet markets are returning across China. Addressing the wildlife trade in China, we argue, requires first understanding it.

The development of biodiversity conservation measures in China's hydro projects: A review.

The hydropower capacity of China ranks first in the world and accounts for approximately 20% of the total energy production in the country. While hydropower has substantially contributed to meeting China's renewable energy targets and providing clean energy to rural areas, the development of hydropower in China has been met with significant controversy. Ecologically, hydro projects alter the landscape, with potential impacts to the country's aquatic biodiversity. Over the past four decades in China, various mainstream opinions and misunderstandings have been presented concerning how to alleviate the negative impacts of hydro projects on aquatic ecosystems. This article reviews research concerning potential mitigation measures to enhance aquatic biodiversity conservation in hydro projects in China. Based on the academic attention such research has attracted, three technical measures for aquatic biodiversity conservation are considered: (1) fish passages, (2) restocking efforts and (3) river and lake renovations. This article provides a historical comparison of these three practices in China to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The article also reviews the relevant legislation, regulations and technical guidelines concerning China's hydro projects dating back to 1979. The dynamics in research, publications, and patents concerning these three mitigation measures are summarized to demonstrate their technological developments in the context of legislative and policy advances. Data were gathered through the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China. Based on the analysis provided, the article recommends an expansion of China's environmental certification system for hydro projects, more robust regional legislation to bolster the national framework, the cooperation between upstream and downstream conservation mechanisms, and better monitoring to determine the efficacy of mitigation measures.

The development of ecological impact assessment in China.

The balance between economic development and ecological conservation in China has become a critical issue in recent decades. Ecological impact assessment (EcoIA) was established beginning in the 1980s as a component of environmental impact assessment (EIA) that focuses specifically on human-related changes in ecosystem structure and function. EcoIA has since been widely applied throughout the country with continuous refinements in theory and practice. As compared to EIA, EcoIA is often performed at a larger scale in the long-term, and thus requires more advanced tools and techniques to quantify and assess. This paper reviews the development of EcoIA over the past 30years in China, with specific consideration given to refinements in legislation and methodology. Three stages in the development of EcoIA in China are identified, along with their achievements and limitations. Supplementing this qualitative analysis, the paper also provides a quantitative bibliometrics review of academic publications concerning EcoIA in China over the three identified stages. Lastly, general trends in the development of EcoIA are summarized with the aim of conveying potential future trajectories. This review is intended to introduce the EcoIA system to scholars interested in the growing field of environmental management in China.