Building sustainability into the Belt and Road Initiative’s Traditional Chinese Medicine trade

Amy Hinsley; E. J. Milner-Gulland; Rosie Cooney; Anastasiya Timoshyna; Xiangdong Ruan; Tien Ming Lee

doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0460-6

Building sustainability into the Belt and Road Initiative’s Traditional Chinese Medicine trade

Amy Hinsley^*, E. J. Milner-Gulland, Rosie Cooney, Anastasiya Timoshyna, Xiangdong Ruan, Tien Ming Lee

^*Corresponding author for this work

Fenner School of Environment & Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A little-known aim of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is ‘people-to-people cultural exchange’, including active promotion of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in BRI countries. On a global scale, this is likely to increase both TCM demand and the sourcing of wildlife-based TCM ingredients from new areas. Any rapid increase in wildlife demand risks exacerbating illegal and unsustainable trade but, with careful management, BRI–TCM could also present opportunities for well-governed supply chains, creating sustainable livelihoods for rural harvesters. With China reaching out to BRI countries to cooperate on the marketing, registration and promotion of TCM products, there is now a critical short-term window for the identification of these risks and opportunities, and to ensure that sustainability is built into these markets from the start.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	96-100
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Volume	3
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0460-6
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2020

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abstract = "A little-known aim of China{\textquoteright}s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is {\textquoteleft}people-to-people cultural exchange{\textquoteright}, including active promotion of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in BRI countries. On a global scale, this is likely to increase both TCM demand and the sourcing of wildlife-based TCM ingredients from new areas. Any rapid increase in wildlife demand risks exacerbating illegal and unsustainable trade but, with careful management, BRI–TCM could also present opportunities for well-governed supply chains, creating sustainable livelihoods for rural harvesters. With China reaching out to BRI countries to cooperate on the marketing, registration and promotion of TCM products, there is now a critical short-term window for the identification of these risks and opportunities, and to ensure that sustainability is built into these markets from the start.",

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Building sustainability into the Belt and Road Initiative’s Traditional Chinese Medicine trade

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