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. 2022 Oct:136:497-509.
doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2022.07.017. Epub 2022 Jul 14.

Policymaker perceptions of COVID-19 impacts, opportunities and challenges for sustainable wildlife farm management in Vietnam

Thu Thuy Pham  1 , Thi Kim Hong Tang  2 , Hai Phuong Dang  2 , Thi Kieu Nuong Nguyen  2 , Tuan Long Hoang  1 , Ngoc My Hoa Tran  1 , Thi Thuy Anh Nguyen  3 , Thi Van Anh Nguyen  4 , Isabela Valencia  1
Affiliations

Policymaker perceptions of COVID-19 impacts, opportunities and challenges for sustainable wildlife farm management in Vietnam

Thu Thuy Pham et al. Environ Sci Policy. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

This paper uses Vietnam - where overexploitation of wildlife resources is a major threat to biodiversity conservation - as a case study to examine how government officials perceive the impacts of COVID-19 on wildlife farming, as well as the opportunities and challenges presented for sustainable wildlife management. Findings show Vietnamese government officials perceive COVID-19 to have had mixed impacts on wildlife conservation policies and practice. While the pandemic strengthened the legal framework on wildlife conservation, implementation and outcomes have been poor, as existing policies are unclear, contradictory, and poorly enforced. Our paper also shows policymakers in Vietnam are not in favor of banning wildlife trade. As our paper documents the immediate impacts of the pandemic on wildlife farming, more research is necessary to analyse longer-term impacts.

Keywords: COVID-19; Vietnam; Wildlife.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Key informant interviewees’ perceptions on numbers of wildlife farms.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forestry office responses to the statement: ‘The number of wildlife farms has decreased gradually over the past 5 years’.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Number of transactions relating to wildlife exported from Vietnam, by source.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Number of transactions relating to wildlife imported to Vietnam, by source.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Number of commercial transactions relating to wildlife exported from and imported to Vietnam, over time.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Confiscations/seizures exported from and imported to Vietnam.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Most commonly-farmed wildlife species.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Forestry office perceptions of whether international and national market demand for wildlife had decreased over time.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Number of wildlife trade cases, exported from Vietnam to China, by source.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Number of wildlife trade cases, imported from China to Vietnam, by source.
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Forestry office responses to the statement ‘There are more policies on wildlife management operations after COVID-19 than there were before it’.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12
Forestry office responses to the question ‘Do you agree that the solution to COVID-19 and sustainable wildlife management is to close wildlife farms?’.
Fig. 13
Fig. 13
Forestry officers’ responses to the statement ‘Since COVID-19, domestic and overseas market demand for domestically-produced wildlife and derivative products have decreased dramatically, thus reducing wildlife farming and trade’.
Fig. 14
Fig. 14
Forestry officers’ responses to the statements ‘Wildlife management and conservation has received increasing attention from government agencies’, and ‘There are increasing numbers of policies supporting wildlife management and conservation’.
Fig. 15
Fig. 15
Forestry officers’ perceptions on whether state funding and foreign support programs for wildlife management had increased.
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