Picture this: you find yourself strolling into a small, crowded shop in downtown Hong Kong. As you cross the threshold, a barrage of strange sights and smells attacks your nose and vision. As you turn your gaze to the walls, you notice shelves upon shelves of animal parts, mysterious fungi, and dubious bunches of dried plants all with purposes and values unknown to you. And yet, the store is also filled with people: people that all seem to know exactly what they are looking for in this apparent chaos of once-living things. The lady behind the counter smiles at you. “Can I help you find anything?” 

Culture shock is a very real phenomenon for many people. Therefore, it is important to learn how to move past this and understand the context of others’ beliefs. Conservation isn’t the first place your mind might jump when thinking about cultural understanding, but a failure to communicate across borders may mean the difference between survival and extinction for hundreds of threatened and endangered species of wildlife around the world, notably those used in the practice of traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM.

The Conflict

TCM is a widespread and storied form of medicine for millions. However, harvesting these remedies has a significant impact on wildlife and presents major conservation issues. These issues are beginning to make a splash in the media, with articles by TIME, National Geographic, and Forbes all bringing attention to the controversy in the US. Many cite TCM’s increasing popularity in other parts of the world and China’s recent economic growth as challenges to future conservation efforts.

So then, why not ban the harvest of threatened species?

It’s not quite that simple.

On the surface, the system appears to be working. Field studies take data on species threatened by overharvesting, whose findings flow to data-compiling organizations like the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). IUCN data shapes international laws/treaties (i.e. CITES) that push governments (in this case, the Chinese government) to invoke top-down legislation intended to protect vulnerable wildlife. And yet, a dangerous number of species are falling through the cracks. Tigers are a famous example, whose body parts are used in TCM to treat everything from arthritis to impotence. Between the years of 1997 and 2007 alone, the range occupied by tigers was estimated to have dropped by 41%, even though commercial trade of tiger parts is against international law. In spite of laws prohibiting trade of endangered seahorse species and strict regulations on size limits, a genetic survey of seahorses in Taiwanese markets found that many individuals on the market were wild-harvested endangered species, and not of legal size. Plant conservation is also an important but often-overlooked area, especially considering how many remedies in TCM are herbal in nature. A survey in 2015 found that out of 3,767 threatened species of plants in China, over 800 are still not protected by national nature reserves, with the effectiveness of the reserves themselves under scrutiny. Indeed, it seems that in lieu of the millions of dollars poured into conservation efforts, the system designed by governments and conservation NGOs to protect species threatened by TCM is broken, or at least leaky.

Why, then, are modern conservation principles failing to protect these species? The problem – and the solution – are about understanding TCM.

What is TCM?

Traditional Chinese medicine, as defined by the National Institutes of Health, is the amalgamation of non-Western herbal remedies, mind, and body applications used by practitioners in China to heal patients for thousands of years. It is short-sighted at best (and dangerous at worst), however, to collapse TCM to a simple set of medical practices. Contrary to the bulk of Western medicine which is viewed relatively sovereign from daily life, TCM is better described as a sort of cultural thread, not unlike religion or art, that is woven into the very fabric of the Chinese way of life. Although its herbal and animal remedies remain the most controversial and well-known subsets, practices such as acupuncture and tai chi are also included in TCM, as well as more holistic approaches like diet. Indeed, traditional Chinese medicine is filled with examples that blur the lines between food and medicine, and between lifestyle and therapy. It is for this reason most current Western conservationist campaigns and legislation have failed to effectively address the unsustainability of many TCM practices. At its heart, the overharvesting of wildlife for TCM is not rooted in poachers or TCM practitioners but in the ever-growing demand of its massive consumer base, in whose lives TCM is deeply woven. Why is this important? It means that any attempt to change or ban the use of TCM using top-down legislation is also an attempt to uproot cultural traditions that have been in place for thousands of years.

Why are species falling through the cracks?

An increasing number of voices are beginning to argue that this breakdown occurs at the local level, where communities directly interact with species of concern, and that it is a result of uninformed attempts to apply Western conservation principles to a society that views wildlife and medicine in a different way. The “nature for nature’s sake” ideas of preservation and romantic notions of “the wild” as public motivation for conservation popularized in the US intrinsically clash with traditional Chinese views, which prioritize use and can be better described as “nature for people.” The result? A mismatch in priorities between the people directing conservation policies and the people interacting with the conserved species – a situation destined for conflict. And indeed, evidence shows that the bulk of the conservation problem in China and other Asian countries stems from poor enforcement at local levels. Many of the internationally-pushed conservation policies currently in effect in China ignore or dismiss the fact that traditional Chinese medicine is an integral part of a culture dating back ~5000 years. This effectively results in a communication gap that can in some ways be viewed as cultural disrespect. If conservation NGOs and Western activists wish to play a role in convincing the Chinese government and people that endangered species are worth protecting, they must first be able to view the issue not as environmentalists, but as avid users of TCM.

Resolving the communication gap

The clash between conservation and traditional Chinese medicine may be incredibly complex, but there is some hope for compromise that promises benefits for both sides. International pressure in the form of trade sanctions has proved effective in motivating China’s government into taking extra steps to conserve its wildlife. However, as China’s economy and fledgling conservation ethos develops, local enforcement and sustainable land-use policies that recognize indigenous peoples and cultures will be increasingly crucial. Villages of small ethnic minority groups have existed in the more remote parts of China for hundreds of years – to uproot them for the sake of preserving wildlife a la Yellowstone National Park would likely be ineffective, as well as bring human rights violations into question.China must conserve its natural resources, but for any solution to be truly effective, it must be Chinese. 

In conflicts of interest such as this, an integrated approach to conservation is necessary. For example, a few reserves in China protecting the habitat of clouded leopards and pandas are managed mostly by locals. These indigenous peoples are provided special usage rights so they can sustainably continue their traditions involving wildlife while under supervision by the national government. Though by no means perfect, these types of solutions offer a general template for sustainable conservation. Chinese-run programs that educate local people about the importance of conservation in ensuring traditions like TCM stay alive will be critical to ensure conservation laws work at a local scale. Government self-checking of these programs will ensure funds are being allocated appropriately to best preserve the balance between resource usage and conservation. Finally, Western governments and international treaties will keep pressure on the national government to cement a conservation ethos in legislation while conservation NGOs and academia collect data on threatened species to inform conservation strategies at all levels. A world where traditional Chinese medicine exists in harmony with nature may be a lofty goal, but with international cooperation, effective communication, and basic respect between TCM users and conservationists, it just might be within reach.

Featured Image: Seahorse: Jonathan Zander, CC BY-SA 2.5, Herbs: Daniel Go, CC BY-NC 2.0, Tiger: CC0 1.0

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