China is Condemned

As reported this week in the South China Morning Post, “China is allowing scientific and medical uses of tiger bone and rhinoceros horn, after banning such uses and trade in the materials for 25 years.” The World Wildlife Fund, among others, has condemned the decision. There are less than 4,000 tigers in the wild.

A country with 1.4 billion people can do a lot of environmental damage. This is an extremely poor decision that shows absolutely no concern for the precarious state of wildlife worldwide, particularly rhino and tigers, but does show the sheer arrogance of China.

There are no “scientific and medical uses of tiger bone and rhinoceros horn,” so, please, let’s dispense with the nonsense, and call it out as a lie.

The U.S., Europe and other regions of the world continue to clamor to get access to China, that is, do business in China. It’s Part II of a several decades shift to China, which began with the development of China as the manufacturer to the world. As China and more of its citizens have increased their wealth, now all types of business want to tap into those new consumers.

But all these companies wanting to expand their markets cannot disregard their responsibilities as Global Citizens. We are in the Sixth Extinction, driven by us, humans. This is the greatest loss of biodiversity since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Corporations, if they wish to remain credible, cannot stand by and do nothing about the loss of wildlife. They must begin to include their voices on issues like this. Wildlife/biodiversity preservation, and retention and extension of wildlife habitat, must be a pillar of any global corporate social responsibility (CSR) program.

Companies not including wildlife in their CSR programs are not meeting CSR. So if you’re not, fix it!

World Population: Closing in on 8 BILLION
Population of China: 1.4 BILLION
Wild Tiger Population: Less than 4,000
Javan Rhino: 57
Sumatran Rhino: Less than 80
Black Rhino: Less than 5,400
Greater One-Horned Rhino: 3,500
White Rhino: Under 21,000

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2170763/china-reverses-25-year-ban-trade-and-use-rhino-horns-and-tiger

#china #rhino #wildlife #endangeredspecies

#environment #globaltrade #chinesemedicine