Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10.3
Potential for net social benefit of a hypothetical commercial hunt for three
Chinese species of high value (as in Figure 10.2). For musk deer (top, back),
biological risk of added human-caused mortality is relatively low, the cultural
benefit from obtaining the wild product high, and the ability to control harvesting
and marketing of the product high. For Asiatic black bears, the biological risk
is relatively high, the cultural benefit is similar to (if a bit lower than) that for
musk deer, and the ability to control harvesting and marketing of the product is
moderate. For chiru, although the biological risk is moderate, the cultural benefits
are low (accruing only to a small number of wealthy, foreign consumers), and the
ability to control harvest and marketing is low.
Musk
deer
Asiatic
black bear
Chiru
In Figure 10.3, I attempt a positioning of three Chinese wild species along these con-
tinua: musk deer, Asiatic black bears, and chiru. All three are vulnerable, and all three
produce commodities of cultural value that might conceivably be produced by free-ranging
animals or, alternatively, by captive animals.
Musk deer produce a commodity of high cultural (and possibly medicinal) value that
has a long tradition of use. This value translates into moderate (but, as I'll show below,
not extremely high) monetary value on a per animal basis. Musk deer are also biologically
capable of sustaining a reasonably high offtake without becoming extirpated because
they reproduce relatively quickly and can achieve reasonably high densities when habitat
conditions allow. Further, because only adult males have commercial value, it is not only
biologically but economically rational to protect females and young from harvest. Most
critically, however, musk deer occupy fixed and relatively small home ranges. Thus,
delineating individual musk deer as “belonging” to nearby human communities (which
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