Value of Wildlife Trade
Attributes
Medium: Animals, Plants and/or Others
Country: Vietnam
Analytical Framework(s): Economic Analysis
Study Date: 2002
Publication Date: 2003
Major Result(s)
| Resource/Environmental Good | VND, million currency units (2002) |
VND, million currency units (2014)1 |
USD, million currency units (2014)2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value of total domestic consumption/day of wildlife trade | 655.00 | 1,348.55 | 0.06 |
| China border illegal trade/day | 957.00 | 1,970.33 | 0.09 |
| Total/day (live and meat wildlife only) | 1,600.00 | 3,294.18 | 0.15 |
| Annual Estimates/year (for study sites) | 589,000.00 | 1,212,668.54 | 56.77 |
| Confiscated amount/year (in study sites) | 18,500.00 | 38,088.91 | 1.78 |
| Projected live and wildlife meat/year (Vietnam) | 855,000.00 | 1,760,325.30 | 82.40 |
| 14.2% of dry, medicine, and stuffed product/year | 142,000.00 | 292,358.12 | 13.69 |
| Total | 997,000.00 | 2,052,683.42 | 96.09 |
About the Inflation Adjustment: Prices in Vietnam (VND) changed by 105.89% from 2002 to 2014 (aggregated from annual CPI data), so the study values were multiplied by 2.06 to express them in 2014 prices. The study values could be expressed in any desired year (for example, to 2026) by following the same inflation calculation and being sensitive to directional (forward/backward) aggregations using your own CPI/inflation data.
Study Note: This study provides data on the logistics, scope and economics of the illegal trade in wildlife in Vietnam. It analyses the main reasons for the rapid growth in this trade and highlights key failures in the country's attempts to control it. The study recommends that the government should strengthen the capacity of the agencies responsible for fighting the trade and raise their budgets. It also highlights the need to use education to encourage Vietnamese people to stop consuming illegal wildlife products. The study concludes that, given the scale of the problem, a high level of commitment at all levels of government will be needed to significantly affect the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam.
Study Details
Summary: In recent years, the economies of Vietnam and China have developed quickly. This was accompanied by rising demand for wildlife products such as live wildlife, wildlife meat, dry wildlife products, and stuffed wildlife. Wildlife meat for eating and wildlife byproducts for drinking and for medicine are popular in Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The most popular species are snake, turtle, bear, bird, pangolins, and monitor lizard. This study, conducted in 20 out of 61 provinces and cities in Vietnam, assessed the extent of wildlife trading; established the trade flow of products within the country to their foreign destinations; and analyzed the causes of weak enforcement of laws on illegal wildlife trade. Data gathering was done from January to July 2002 using personal interviews.The total estimated volume of live and wildlife meat in and out of Vietnam is about 3,050 tonnes per year, of which about half was for domestic consumption. Trade in wildlife meat accounts for 80% of the total and this is concentrated in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. The total revenue and profit from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam are estimated at USD 66.5 million and USD 21 million per year, respectively. In the study sites alone, the estimated total profit is eight times the expenditure on monitoring and enforcing. In the entire country, the estimated total profit is 31 times higher than suchexpenditures (USD 634,000 to USD 700,000); more than three times the total budget of Forest Protection Department staff (about USD 6.5 million), and four times the total fines collected (USD 5.5 million) per year. The estimated total revenue from illegaltrade (USD 66.5 million) is 12 times the total revenue from legal wildlife trade (USD 5.2 million) per year. The study estimated that the average value of official confiscated live wildlife and wildlife meat from 1997 to 2002 accounted for only 3.1% of the total value of illegal wildlife trade per year. The main domestic sources of wildlife species in Vietnam are protected areas. The main international sources are Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Both sources travel along Road 1A to Ha Noi, and Ho Chi Minh City markets. From Ha Noi, wildlife species travel out to China through Mong Cai-Quang Ninh, and Lang Son. The main reasons for the continuous and intensified illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam are the following: high demand and profitability of illegal wildlife trade; lax implementation of wildlife protection policies by the government; and lack of manpower, funding, and equipment to implement the policies. It is recommended that the government strengthen the capacity of the Forest Protection Department (FPD) staff for monitoring and enforcing existing laws to be complemented by increased levels of fines. Given the information on centers of illegal wildlife operations, increased attention should be given to Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi wildlife markets, Mong Cai-Quang Ninh and Lang Son. Regarding the time of operation, the months to watch are September to March for trading of wildlife meat for domestic consumption, and cross border trading.
Site Characteristics: For this study, 20 hotspots out of a total of 61 cities and provinces in Vietnam were surveyed. Hotspots are identified as critical centers of illegal wildlife trade where collecting, keeping, and marketing of wildlife occur on a relatively larger scale. The North subsite is considered as the biggest market of illegal wildlife trade, a destination of domestic trading and a place for repackaging wildlife shipments before trafficking to China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. This subsite includes seven provinces and two cities. Six provinces, namely: Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai and Lai Chau border on China and Laos. There are about 10 important frontier passes to China and one to Laos in these six provinces. The two biggest cities and wildlife markets here are Ha Noi and Hai Phong. Ninh Binh province is a bottleneck-checkpoint for timber and non-timber product shipments from the central, south, and Laos to the north, and China by Road 1A and Thong Nhat railway. The Central subsite borders on Laos and is the second important domestic source of wildlife in Vietnam. The Central subsite is mid-way and a crossroad for illegal wildlife trade from the south, and Laos and Myanmar to the north. There are some important frontier passes such as Nam Can- Thanh Hoa, Cau Treo-Ha Tinh, Lao Bao-Quang Tri and A Luoi-Thua Thien Hue and routes from Laos to Road 1 passing though the Central subsite. It is the shortest way from Laos and Myanmar to Road 1 of Vietnam. There are five provinces and cities included in the South subsite of this study, four of which border on Cambodia. These are Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Tay Ninh and Can Tho. Tay Nguyen Plateau, the most important source of wildlife in Vietnam, is located in this area. Ho Chi Minh City has the most widespread wildlife and wildlife product trading. Can Tho province is located in the center of Mekong River Delta which is an important source of water turtle. Data gathering was done from January to July 2002. January to March is still wildlife trading season in Vietnam, and includes the Chinese New Year.
Comments: The wildlife trade is widespread throughout Vietnam but due to the limitations of time and budget, this study selected only 20 hotspot provinces and cities. Moreover, the primary data was gathered from January to July 2002 only. Wildlife species includes fauna and flora. This study focused only on wildlife fauna. It covers illegal live wildlife, wildlife meat, dry products, and stuffed wildlife markets only. Furthermore, due to the nature of the illegal trade, the study was not able to obtain detailed cost and benefit data and the exact quantity of traded products. The best approximation was presented based on information obtained from key informants.