Berlin, 05.05.2022: In Myanmar, Facebook is becoming a growing threat to biodiversity. The trade in wildlife in the Southeast Asian country via the social network increased by 74 percent between 2020 and 2021, the WWF warns. For their report “Going viral: Myanmar’s wildlife trade escalates online”, the environmentalists scrutinized wild animals and their body parts offered for sale in Myanmar via Facebook and found a total of 11,046 cases. Of particular concern: Of the 173 different animal species offered, to which the cases mentioned were distributed, around a third (54) are considered to be threatened with extinction.
“Apart from the climate crisis, the destruction of global biodiversity is one of the greatest threats to humanity. It is all the more bitter that you can openly buy hundreds of wild animal species and products from them on Facebook, including many illegal items and even endangered species,” criticizes Susanne Gotthardt, Southeast Asia officer at WWF Germany. According to the study, there was a particularly drastic increase in the sale of mammals. Here the number of offers increased by 241 percent. These included, for example, commercially bred civet cats, meat from the endangered Malayan pangolin offered for consumption, parts of elephant skin for use as jewelry or live young bears as pets.
In addition to the threat to biodiversity, the WWF also highlights the danger to human health. Scientists estimate that three out of four emerging infectious diseases originate from animals – as was the case with SARS, swine flu (H1N1), avian flu (H5N1) or COVID-19. Trade in live wild animals and parts of them brings many species and their pathogens together, increasing the potential for transmission to humans.
“With the expanding online trade, the risk of transmission of new pathogens from wild animals to humans is increasing and with it the risk of new epidemics and pandemics,” says Susanne Gotthardt. “The traders usually keep different species in close proximity to each other, sometimes transport the wild animals in public buses and disregard basic hygiene rules. It is playing with fire, from which a few profiteers earn a lot of money at the expense of the general public. Social media allows traders to have 24/7 access to an unlimited number of customers. There are hardly any costs involved, no special knowledge or technology is required and the risk of being penalized is very limited. Social media like Facebook must finally live up to their responsibility and stop this dangerous trade.”
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