Strapped for Cash, Asians Plunder Their Forests and Endanger Their Future

Strapped for Cash, Asians Plunder their Forests and Endanger their Future DEANNA DONOVAN ISSUES Analysis from the East-West Center SUMMARY As the economic crisis swept across Asia in 1997, gutting purchasing No. 39 April 1999 power in many countries, one potential silver lining seemed possible: a drop in The U.S. Congress established the East-West Center in 1960 to demand for rhino and tiger parts, tortoises, wild orchids, fragrant woods, and other foster mutual understanding and cooperation among the govern- increasingly rare products of the region’s forests. Though threatened with extinction, ments and peoples of the Asia Pacific region, including the United these and many other plants and animals, esteemed as medicinal marvels or status States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government symbols, have fueled a vigorous trade buoyed by rising regional prosperity and mar- with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, ket globalization. Today, contrary to expectation, the commerce in wild species and corporations, and Asian and Pacific governments. their products has increased substantially. The economic collapse that has been felt The AsiaPacific Issues series contributes to the Center’s role as most keenly in Southeast Asia, combined with the continued relative prosperity of a neutral forum for discussion of issues of regional concern. The China and strong American and European economies, stimulates the flow of views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those resources out of Southeast Asia and into East Asia and the West. Now, unexpected- of the Center. ly, it is increasing personal hardship that may pose the greatest threat to already Effects of the Asian Economic endangered species and habitats, as cash-needy citizens turn to their forests for the Crisis series income that their regular jobs and crops no longer provide. One result is the destruc- tion of the very biological resources on which their future development depends. 2 Analysis from the East-West Center When currency devaluations swept through Asia in in virtually all Asian societies, including émigré the spring and summer of 1997, the region’s grow- communities in the West. In the last several years ing consumer class was hard hit. Once able to pay the trade in these products has been stimulated by a top dollar for designer goods and other symbols of number of factors, including economic liberaliza- The economic and . their newly affluent lifestyles, many Asian consum- tion, market integration and globalization, and, biological impacts ers now found themselves scrambling to pay for until recently, rising incomes in Southeast and East of forest exploita- necessities. Though disastrous for many, the finan- Asia. Concern about higher drug prices and the cial crisis appeared to have a potential silver lining: increasing interest in “alternative” medicines and tion will reach far decreased demand for expensive exotic meats natural products in the West have also greatly beyond the current (including tiger) and traditional medicines (rhino increased demand. In the 1980s, the reestablish- economic crisis horn, bear bile) derived from rare and endangered ment of cordial relations between most of the plants and animals. These and many other Asian socialist countries of Asia and the market economies forest products are increasingly being consumed as of the rest of the world was the first step toward an symbols of success and as antidotes to increasing improvement in commercial relations that has stress and illness. The cost to forests, especially in resulted in a rapid escalation of trade both within Southeast Asia, is clear and mounting, as legal and the region and between Asia and other regions. illegal harvesting threatens the survival of some species and, consequently, the health of associated Joining the global economy. The sale of forest ecosystems. products, especially wild animals and plants, has The silver lining, however, has not materialized. been the traditional means by which marginal rural There has been no reprieve for the imperiled groups could generate cash. More recently, it has species. Though demand has fallen in many coun- provided a way to participate in the global market tries, China’s economy has fared relatively well economy. Having struggled for many years to sur- throughout the crisis and the country is both a vive, these rural dwellers, some of whom have only growing market for these forest products and a recently joined the world economy, are eager to major processor and exporter of them to expanding catch up and partake of the prosperity they see via international markets. Indeed, along with disap- satellite television. But they are finding that the cost pointment that demand has not declined, many of market participation has dramatically increased as observers are now experiencing a rising sense of economic troubles have rocked their countries. alarm: In Southeast Asia, which has been especially With few economic alternatives, they view the for- hard hit by the economic crisis and where millions est, and all the animals and plants therein, as the of unemployed are returning to the countryside, key to prosperity. people are increasingly looking to forest resources for their own survival. This short-sighted (albeit Exploding Demand understandable) strategy will have economic and The huge and growing Chinese market is a major biological impacts that will extend far beyond the factor in the exploitation of Southeast Asian and current financial crisis. southwestern Chinese forests. The country has a population of almost 1.3 billion, more than five The Uses of Wild Plant and Animal Products times that of all of mainland Southeast Asia; an esti- Medicinal and culinary preparations are the primary mated economic growth rate of about 8 percent, use for most wild animal and plant products. The more than that of the United States or any western demand for exotic meats and for pharmaceuticals European country; and an emerging class of young based on natural plant and animal derivatives exists professionals—70 million consumers both interested 3 Analysis from the East-West Center in and now able to pay for good health and good living. As much as 40 percent of the population is A Note from the Field said to use traditional medicines, and Western-style pharmaceuticals are not always available. Many pre- “In Laos, the pressure on wildlife and non-timber for- fer products from wild sources. est products (NTFP) is intensified by rapidly sinking world market prices for timber, traditionally Laos’ most An increasingly international market. In addition important product....Prospects for income from to being an important market, China is also a major hydropower are also gloomy as the Asian crisis reduces projections of Thai demands for electricity. processor of wild products. According to official sta- Hence, an increased pressure from the government to tistics i the United States, the European Union, and step up NTFP exports. Japan account for 60 percent by value of wildlife [With regard to forest products] the area around imports worldwide. Total U.S. imports of medicinal the capital city of Vientiane was already a ‘depleted and culinary plant products recorded in 1995 zone.’ The effect has only been exacerbated by the economic crisis. Soldiers, policemen, and other low- ii amounted to 12.5 tons valued at US$42 million. ranking government officers saw their salaries drop China was the main source of those products. from $40 per month (just enough to live on) to $10-$15 Hong Kong, meanwhile, hopes to become a per month in 1998. They are all running into the forest to collect fish, fuelwood, bamboo shoots, etc., to add major provider of traditional Chinese medicine. to their income. Ten years ago, most of these products Hong Kong-based NPH International Holdings has could be found within 10 km around the city; nowa- endowed research programs at both Harvard days people travel anywhere between 30 km to 100 University and Hong Kong’s Chinese University km to find these products.” with the aim of developing new medicinal products —from a note to the author written by an advisor to a project in Lao PDR funded by the World Conservation for a growing international market.iii Among the Union (IUCN) province’s own residents, a recent telephone survey revealed that 35 percent of the adult population consult traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and use their products. Other surveys indicate con- Desperate Suppliers As import prices sumers’ willingness to pay more for wild products have shot up, local than for those produced on a farm, and of nearly a The need for cash continues to grow. Governments reeling from the financial crisis and trying to con- prices have risen third of those polled to use traditional medicine even if it were banned because it was derived from form to the demands of the IMF have cut social ser- on their coattails endangered species.iv vices. Prices of imports have shot up and local prices As owners of trading companies have discovered, have risen on their coattails. With limited options, devotees of traditional Chinese medicine are an irre- people increasingly look to forest product sales to sistible market for cash-needy people with access to generate cash, and the result is a growing threat to forbidden products. Poachers supplying the Chinese the ecosystem. medicine market killed three of the 37 known tigers Everything has a price. Much of the forest that is in a Sumatran national wildlife park in late 1998 commercially exploited for wild animal and plant and a local police chief was arrested with a tiger products is located in relatively remote areas inhab- v slaughterhouse in his backyard. The trade in en- ited by ethnic minority groups whose economies dangered species is increasing and “we’re about to still depend largely on shifting cultivation and col- lose a lot more species, no doubt about it,” Tony lection of forest products.

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