Khet Htan’s Idea World

Su Yongge

Summarized by Khet Htan

In this paper, author review on the open border trade of China with its neighboring countries impacts to ecological system. Author analysis that whether these border trading can provide to sustainable development or not and the real situation of these areas in policy and practice with author’s own experiences. Emphasize areas are border sharing region among China, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Author tries to show the important relation of ecology and border.

Su Yongge explored many problems in policy making and implementation, difficulty to control situation and different perceptions and procedures to ecological preservation by states along border. Yongge highlight that the border regions are rich of ethnic culture and plenty of natural resources (forest and wildlife), at the same time these places also the vulnerable point of destroying nature. Author seriously study about the situation of forest and wildlife which the greater parts of ecosystem.

Forest

Throughout in this paper, there are mention many causes to devastate ecosystem. The first, author mention, is population density in the border region[1]. ‘As the population doubled or tripled, the percentage of forest cover decreased at the same time.’ As a consequence, demand for food (plants and animals) was increased. In China political struggles and competitions make ‘the grate freedom to abuse natural resources’ without any awareness. People cut down trees ‘for no clear purpose’ and ‘forest was disappearing at a shocking rate’.

After 1980s, China promoted economics relation with neighboring countries. Myanmar has made several requests to china for the exploitation of its forest resources jointly with China, a record said[2]. Timber has simply become the number one business on the China-Myanmar border. During the dry season, the Houqiao port has 150 to 200 timber trucks arriving daily. For that purpose, roads were developed in the border and consequently, people could easily exploit the resource as well as wildlife.

Wildlife[3]

The trade of wildlife is legal and illegal alternatively according to different regions with different laws and with different reasons. As a sharing border, protecting law to wildlife is various in different regions. The reason to legal to sell in market is ‘these animals are foreign wildlife, not form the motherland’. Markets represent the attitude of government. The seller said ‘he saw first, so it belongs to him’; the buyers said ‘they had bought it from the market’. But on one can confirm it; animals have no passports or identity cards to show. Author point out all these situation still follow the common custom expressed that ‘wildlife has no owner; whoever hunts it, owns it’. Su Yongge mentioned that ‘legal’ and ‘’illegal’ was sometimes depending on paid tax or not to forestry department to have the right to sell those creatures.

The greater part of wildlife trafficking of China is related to Vietnam. The wild animals are served in local and city restaurants and used in traditional medicine. The Vietnamese are the biggest suppliers of wildlife and the Chinese are the biggest consumers. And another supplier is northern Laos. Author illustrates the two Chinese families who make a good wildlife trading business in Laos without any harm by authority.

Conclusion

All stories of author’s are represented that what happen in borders after open trade system in those areas. In fact, borders are political constructions. In the case of ecology of border areas, it is different policies and different perceptions to nature by different states. It is seem the ecology does have borders. But in the studies, all phenomena leave no doubt that ecology does have its ‘artificial border’. In the border areas, laws also seem to be weak and seem to have no power. So conservation of ecology is almost impossible. China was the member of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora, but in border regions, most of trade and trafficked animals are endanger species. Although men make a so-called border, plants and animals are cannot be categorized to ‘domestic’ and ‘foreign’. Ecology has no border.

In this way, open border trade cannot achieve social, economic and ecological benefits in the long run. In all neighboring countries, ecosystem depends on each other, even though men-make border line was constructed. Human thought they can control the nature. But nature answers to that question. Ecological system is starting to destroy. In reality, human cultural diversity is a part of biodiversity in ecosystem. In the globalization age, we are found the circumstance that no ones can separately live in their circle. Global warming, carbon emission, and even poverty and terrorism are pushing us to be on the same boat. Now we are experience the climate change around the world. It makes the more confirmation that ecology has no border.