纽约时报中文网 - 英文原版-英Africas Donkeys Are Coveted by China Can the Continent Protect Them
February 26, 2024 2 min 224 words
这篇报道揭示了中国对非洲驴的高度需求，强调非洲在保护这一资源上的责任。报道深刻剖析了中国对驴皮产业的渴望，以及这一需求对非洲国家的影响。然而，文章也引发了对非洲自身保护措施的质疑，是否足以维护这一珍贵资源。在全球化时代，非洲国家需要更加坚定地采取措施，确保本土资源不被外部需求无度捕捉。这篇报道提醒我们，保护自然资源不仅仅是一个国家的问题，更是全球共同责任。
For years, Chinese companies and their contractors have been slaughtering millions of donkeys across Africa, coveting gelatin from the animals’ hides that is processed into traditional medicines, popular sweets and beauty products in China.
But a growing demand for the gelatin has decimated donkey populations at such alarming rates in African countries that governments are now moving to put a brake on the mostly unregulated trade.
Listen to this article with reporter commentary
The African Union, a body that encompasses the continent’s 55 states, adopted a continentwide ban on donkey skin exports this month in the hope that stocks will recover.
Rural households across Africa rely on donkeys for transportation and agriculture.
Yet donkeys only breed a foal every couple of years.
“A means of survival in Africa fuels the demand for luxury products from the middle class in China,” said Emmanuel Sarr, who heads the West Africa regional office of Brooke, a nongovernment organization based in London that works to protect donkeys and horses.