Nine agencies submitted amendments to the wildlife protection law to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
All wildlife included in protection for full fasting
● Protecting wildlife is indispensable for maintaining the health of ecosystems and reducing ecological risks. It is also a key measure to reduce public health risks, reduce public safety crises, ensure social stability and sustainable economic development.
● Any kind of wild animal has an important status and role in the ecosystem. Nine organizations proposed to abolish the "three-animals", retain the original categories of protected wild animals, and put the "three-animals" and those not on any list. Of wild animals merged into "general protected animals" to implement full protection and fill regulatory gaps
● Nine agencies have proposed to ban the consumption of wild animals, including foods made from specially bred animals and their products. This can reduce the difficulty of law enforcement and focus on cracking down on illegal trade.
□ reporter Jianrong Rong
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has once again pushed the revision of the Wildlife Protection Law to the forefront of public opinion.
On February 21, 9 institutions including Peking University's Nature Conservation and Social Development Research Center, Shanshui Nature Conservation Center, Duke Kunshan University, Beijing Friendship Institute of Nature and Environment, Chaoyang District, etc. proposed amendments to the NPC Standing Committee's Legal Work Committee .
Nine agencies believe that the key to this amendment is to redefine the scope of the Wildlife Protection Law, and also propose to expand the scope of the Wildlife Protection Law to all wild animals, and no longer retain the "important ecological, scientific, and social values" of " "Three things" concept.
In fact, as early as October 26, 2018, the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress decided to amend the wildlife protection law. Since then, the academic community has been arguing about the amendment of this law.
Improve the purpose of legislation
Expand protection
Although the exact cause of the new crown pneumonia outbreak has not been officially announced so far, it seems that the outbreak is directly related to illegal consumption and trading of wild animals.
In fact, the relevant regulatory authorities have been doing a lot of work in advocating forbidding wildlife eating and cracking down on illegal trade. However, illegal eating and trading of wild animals are still prohibited. In the view of the nine agencies, this is related to imperfect laws.
Among the proposals submitted to the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, nine institutions believed that the legislative purpose of the Wildlife Protection Law must be improved.
"The purpose of wildlife protection is to ensure the integrity and stability of biodiversity and ecosystems, thereby ensuring ecological security and sustainable human development. The effectiveness of wildlife protection is whether the wild populations of species are healthy and stable." 9 agencies mentioned This includes the protection of individual animals and their habitats.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report issued by the United Nations in 2007 pointed out that changes in habitat will lead to changes in the number of infectious disease vectors or host distribution. Therefore, nine agencies believe that the wildlife protection law should make it clear that while protecting wildlife, the wildlife habitat should be protected, otherwise effective protection of wildlife cannot be achieved.
Lu Zhi, founder of the Shanshui Nature Conservation Center and a professor of conservation biology at Peking University, told the reporter of the Legal Daily that protecting wildlife is indispensable for maintaining the health of ecosystems and reducing ecological risks. Key measures to ensure social stability and sustainable economic development.
Lu Zhi believes that, while establishing the concept of universal protection of wildlife, while introducing a public health and health perspective, it is necessary to carry out wildlife protection from the perspective of public health.
Based on such considerations, nine agencies agreed that the legislative purpose of the Wildlife Protection Law must be expanded, and it is recommended that "to protect wildlife and their habitats, save endangered wildlife and their habitats, maintain biodiversity, and ensure ecological security With public health security, promoting the construction of ecological civilization "is clearly for legislative purposes.
According to Li Binbin, an assistant professor of environmental science at Duke Kunshan University, the wildlife protected by the current wildlife protection law refers to precious, endangered terrestrial, aquatic wildlife and terrestrial wildlife with important ecological, scientific, and social values. There are still a large number of wild animals that have not been included in the scope of protection, and they are neither listed as key species nor included in any list, resulting in regulatory gaps.
In Li Binbin's view, all species are part of the ecosystem, and the loss and reduction of some species will cause ecosystem imbalances, increase pests and diseases, and increase animal-borne diseases. Therefore, the overall protection of biodiversity is required to ensure public health security .
Nine organizations proposed to modify the concept of "wild animals" to "animals that have not been domesticated in humans in the natural state and in the artificial environment", and expanded the scope of the wildlife protection law to all wildlife. Except as required.
Friends of Nature Director-General Zhang Boju believes that this arrangement not only expands the scope of protection, but also answers the public ’s concerns about whether wild fish can eat and whether flies and mosquitoes are protected. At the same time, it clarifies the wildlife protection law and other related issues. The division and connection of legal norms and constraints.
The reporter of "Legal System Daily" noted that for a long time, there are opinions that wild animals are available resources, and they advocate the use of economic value to divide protection categories.
In response, nine organizations proposed that such protection thinking is obviously no longer in line with the basic principles of modern ecology and it is no longer adapted to the protection work under the concept of ecological civilization. "There are important ecological, scientific, and social values" and "three-animals" belong to the typical economic value protection thinking.
"Bat species, although they are not endangered and are not protected under existing laws, may carry pathogens that endanger humans." Nine agencies said that there are many more such species, so it is recommended that they not be endangered. Species of wildlife are also included in protections to reduce the public health and health risks that humans pose as they are consumed and traded.
Nine organizations have proposed that any kind of wild animal has its indispensable status and role in the ecosystem, and proposes to abolish the "three-animals" and retain the original protected wild animal categories, that is, national and local priority protected wild animals For animals, the "three-animals" and wild animals that are not on any list are merged into "general protected animals" for comprehensive protection to fill the regulatory gap.
Explicitly prohibited
Classification management utilization
Friends of Nature's General Counsel Liu Jinmei said that in view of the huge hidden dangers to public health caused by the consumption of wild animals, the law should explicitly prohibit the consumption, production, and operation of food, as well as foods made for the illegal purchase of wild animals and their products, including Food for special breeding animals and their products.
In the opinion of Liu Jinmei, from the perspective of cracking down on the game's full chain, supplementary regulations should be added to prohibit the production, operation, transportation, carrying, and delivery of food made from wild animals and their products, including food made from special breeding animals and their products. Strengthen the crackdown on illegal trade in wild animals without special identification and quarantine certificates.
Nine agencies stated that amendments to the Wildlife Protection Law should explicitly prohibit consumption, including food made from specially bred animals and their products. This can reduce the difficulty of law enforcement and focus on cracking down on illegal trade.
At the same time, nine agencies proposed to classify and manage the use of wild animals according to the directory and permits.
"Dividing wild animals into national and local key protected wild animals and general protected wild animals; strict protection of wild animals included in the" National Key Protected Wildlife Directory "and the local key protected wild animal directory." 9 agencies suggested, The Wildlife Protection Law should provide that wild animals hunted in the wild cannot be used for commercial purposes or entered the market for trading and use. Except for scientific research, population control, ex situ protection, surveillance of epidemic sources and disease or other special circumstances, the hunting and hunting of wild animals shall be prohibited unless they have applied to the wildlife protection administrative department for permission. When submitting an application for approval to the wildlife protection administrative department, an expert argumentation document and the legal provisions on which it is based must be issued.
For artificial breeding of terrestrial wild animals, nine institutions have proposed to clearly distinguish between commercial and non-commercial purposes and manage them differently. "Scientific research institutions have scientifically assessed the survival risks of wild populations, and when it is necessary to carry out species ex situ conservation, they can apply to the wildlife protection administrative department for non-commercial artificial breeding of wild animals."
In view of the large number of borrowed species protection in practice, artificial breeding of wild animals for commercial use, and huge hidden dangers to public health and safety, 9 institutions believe that wildlife protection laws should prohibit other units and individuals other than scientific research institutions Artificial breeding of wild animals for species protection purposes. The artificial breeding of wild animals by scientific research institutions for the purpose of species protection shall be used to restore wild populations, scientific research and education, and shall not be used commercially.
Nine agencies have proposed that they will simultaneously meet the mature and stable artificial breeding technology, have legal quarantine standards, have scientific assessments of low public health safety risks, have sustainable large-scale breeding populations, do not need to replenish provenance from the wild, and can be commercialized domesticated breeding The animals required for terrestrial wildlife are included in the "Special Breeding Animals List", and wild animals outside the list are prohibited from artificial breeding for commercial purposes. Qualified enterprises may apply for special breeding licenses to competent authorities. Such a provision would increase the feasibility of administrative agencies overseeing the commercial use of special animals.
In addition, 9 agencies believe that the update of the national key protected species list should be the most urgent and urgent supporting provision of the Wildlife Protection Law, and it is recommended that the list be adjusted and updated as soon as possible by referring to the "threatened" species standards of the IUCN Red List. .
Establish a traceability system
Streamline the management system
The outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it is worth pondering exactly how wild animals flow into the market.
From the perspective of nine institutions, establishing a system for tracing and labeling terrestrial wildlife through artificial breeding, using animal quarantine standards as a prerequisite for commercial artificial breeding licenses, and rigorously monitoring every aspect of wildlife trading is one of the key elements of legal amendments. .
Lu Zhi, Zhang Boju, Li Binbin, and Liu Jinmei told the reporter of the Legal Daily that the law should prohibit wild animals and products derived from the wild from entering the market directly. Given that the existing artificial breeding permission system is too extensive, wild animals including special breeding wild animal populations should use artificial breeding offspring provenances, establish genealogy, breeding files and individual data.
Nine organizations proposed that individual breeding animals should use implantable chips for individual identification, ensure that the lineage is clearly traceable, and retain tissue samples for two years for DNA sampling inspection.
"Every terrestrial animal included in the" Special Breeding Animals List "and artificially bred in accordance with the requirements of the license, including those in the" National List of Key Protected Wild Animals ", shall obtain the" Special Breeding Animals "logo in accordance with the law, and shall comply with the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law According to relevant laws such as the Animal Husbandry Law, breeding and commercial use are allowed, but food is prohibited. "9 agencies mentioned.
So, how to straighten out the management system of wildlife protection? The proposal of nine agencies is to set up a wildlife protection bureau in the Ministry of Natural Resources, to clarify the responsibility of the ecological environment department for supervision of wildlife protection.
For a long time, the protection of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife has been under the responsibility of the forestry and grassland department and the fishery department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China. Nine agencies pointed out that the industrial thinking and divisions between these two sectors have been one of the problems in wildlife protection in China. With the continuous adjustment of the legal status of China's forestry sector, the corresponding legal status of the Department of Wildlife and Plant Protection, which is specifically responsible for this work, has become lower, and administrative resources are insufficient, making it difficult to undertake the burdensome task of terrestrial wildlife protection.
From the perspective of nine agencies, the institutional reform two years ago has weakened the administrative and law enforcement capacity of China's wildlife protection to some extent. They suggested that the wildlife protection function be integrated and placed under the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Wildlife Protection Bureau be established in the Ministry of Natural Resources, on the one hand to improve its legal status and increase its administrative resources; on the other hand, it can use the management and law enforcement forces of the Ministry of Natural Resources , Effectively improve the capacity of wildlife protection and management and law enforcement.
Nine agencies also pointed out that the Wildlife Protection Law should specify that the ecological environment department is responsible for supervising the enforcement of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife protection across the country, and has the right to supervise and strengthen enforcement opinions on wildlife protection law enforcement by forestry and grassland and agricultural and rural competent authorities.
In addition, nine agencies suggested the establishment of independent and open scientific committees to guide and supervise professional issues such as the establishment of quotas, the establishment and updating of wildlife protection lists.
It is worth noting that, among the recommendations submitted to the Legal Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, nine institutions paid special attention to public participation and supervision, and suggested that the Wildlife Protection Law establish a civil and administrative public interest litigation system related to wildlife protection.