如果说国际贸易与濒危物种之间的关系，可能大多数人首先会想到一些由野生动植物加工而来的非法制品，比如象牙。毫无疑问，非法贸易是影响生物多样性的一个重要因素。然而Nature上最新发表的文章表明，国际贸易以更加复杂的方式影响着物种多样性，该研究也是国际上首次定量的描述贸易全球化与物种多样性关系的工作。
研究者认为，发达国家消费者的日常需求最终导致了发展中国家一些本地物种面临着严峻的生存挑战。
研究者在国际自然保护组织红名单中找出了25000种濒危动物，这些动物的减少与来自187个国家的超过15000种商品有关。他们发现30%的濒危物种之所以面临生存困境是因为国际贸易。发达国家对于咖啡、茶、纺织品等日常用品的进口使得他们在这些制成品的产地留下了大量的生物多样性足迹。
该研究还指出了对于物种多样性破坏最大的国家，可以预料，前两位依次是美国、日本，德、法、英紧随其后。在这些国家，进口比本地生产对物种多样性的威胁更大。
研究者希望他们的成果有助于人们意识到日常生活中的商品对物种多样性减少的影响。（生物谷 Bioon.com ）
doi:10.1038/nature11145
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International trade drives biodiversity threats in developing nations
M. Lenzen, D. Moran, K. Kanemoto, B. Foran, L. Lobefaro, & A. Geschke
Human activities are causing Earth’s sixth major extinction event1—an accelerating decline of the world’s stocks of biological diversity at rates 100 to 1,000 times pre-human levels2. Historically, low-impact intrusion into species habitats arose from local demands for food, fuel and living space3. However, in today’s increasingly globalized economy, international trade chains accelerate habitat degradation far removed from the place of consumption. Although adverse effects of economic prosperity and economic inequality have been confirmed4, 5, the importance of international trade as a driver of threats to species is poorly understood. Here we show that a significant number of species are threatened as a result of international trade along complex routes, and that, in particular, consumers in developed countries cause threats to species through their demand of commodities that are ultimately produced in developing countries. We linked 25,000 Animalia species threat records from the International union for Conservation of Nature Red List to more than 15,000 commodities produced in 187 countries and evaluated more than 5 billion supply chains in terms of their biodiversity impacts. Excluding invasive species, we found that 30% of global species threats are due to international trade. In many developed countries, the consumption of imported coffee, tea, sugar, textiles, fish and other manufactured items causes a biodiversity footprint that is larger abroad than at home. Our results emphasize the importance of examining biodiversity loss as a global systemic phenomenon, instead of looking at the degrading or polluting producers in isolation. We anticipate that our findings will facilitate better regulation, sustainable supply-chain certification and consumer product labelling.
