Paris (AFP)

Will Coronavirus Save Pangolin? China's announcement of a "complete" ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals is good news for conservationists, but will need to be confirmed over time.

Beijing on Monday announced a "complete" ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice suspected of being behind the epidemic of coronavirus which appeared in December in the center of the country and which now threatens the world. of a "pandemic" according to the WHO. But the measure will still have to be definitively enshrined in law, in a country where snakes and bats are also consumed.

"We applaud this ban, which shows that the Chinese government is determined to change a millennial tradition, totally inappropriate in today's society," said Jeff He, director for China of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), who welcomes believes that an "even stricter revision is in preparation".

Because, with the second health crisis of its kind in 17 years, after SARS, "I think the government has understood that the cost to the economy and to society is much greater than the benefits" of this trade, he continues. , while stressing that "stopping the trade in wild animals must be a joint effort of the international community".

Director of the international NGO WildAid, which fights against the trafficking of wild animals, Peter Knights also awaits the perpetuation of the Chinese decision: "All this is very necessary and sensible, the only question is: what will happen it long term. "

For him, the challenges now go beyond animal protection alone: ​​"there is obviously something much bigger at stake, human health and massive economic damage". However, a large-scale and confirmed Chinese ban could change the global situation: "We hope that China will be able to show the way for a world ban on these markets and use its influence and its capacities" to help, especially in Asia. Southeast and Africa, where the consumption of wild animals is also widespread.

"This is a warning and if we hear it I hope we can not only protect human life but even save species like the pangolin", small mammals whose flesh is prized and the scales used in traditional Chinese medicine. Threatened with extinction, they are highly trafficked in Asia and may, according to some scientists, have served as a vector for the transmission of the new coronavirus to humans.

- Dry the market -

Their trade has been totally prohibited since 2016 by Cites. Ivonne Higuero, secretary general of this body which monitors international trade in endangered species, welcomes the Chinese announcement "if it means that China will take more stringent measures to meet its obligations" under the convention.

"There is a lot of wildlife trafficking to China," said the official. And a drying up of the Chinese market would therefore be beneficial: "Removing what motivates these often international criminal organizations is exactly what is needed. If there are no more buyers, why continue."

This traffic is estimated at more than 15 billion dollars per year at the global level, recalls the WWF, which "applauds" the Chinese announcement, while also stressing that "the only bans will not stop the traffic if demand persists. "

Environmental activists in Africa, one of the reservoirs of biodiversity, the source of many trafficked animals, are also watching Chinese developments with attention.

"People could pay more attention to the consumption of pangolins. They could also see them as a threat, which would put them in danger", nuance Ray Jansen, president of the "African working group on pangolin".

Doctor Andrew Muir, head of the South African NGO Wilderness Foundation Africa, believes that the Chinese decision is "a positive step in the face of the loss of biodiversity and the number of species that are disappearing".

He hopes that "it will allow wild species to remain in the wild as part of the ecosystem. To put it simply in relation to this case (the coronavirus): if we do not eat wild animals they will not do us any harm. wrong".

© 2020 AFP