With all of the various markets that exist worldwide, whether legit or illegal, they all seem to follow a common idea: If there is a demand, there are people willing to supply these demands. Plants like orchids are no exception. In a 2019 Mongabay news article called Wild orchid trade in China is huge, overlooked and ‘devastating,’ study finds by Shreya Dasgupta, a study found that markets in southern China like the provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong are full of orchids illegally acquired from the wild rather than from nurseries at a cost. Some species of orchids are native to the country while others come from countries like Laos and Myanmar. Yet due to orchids being bought and sold at cheap prices far below their worth, this has driven up demand and supply to the point of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulating all 29,000 species of orchid. As such, establishing ownership of wild orchids through a contract will make it easier to enforce them and provide incentive for taking care of them while protecting them from illegal trade.
First, having a contract that establishes the ownership of wild orchids will make it easier to enforce it. As Dasgupta states, many of the wild orchids being sold were mostly undeclared or undocumented. This is a problem because even though this is in violation of CITES regulations, the lack of documentation proving otherwise makes it hard to legally enforce. So people can keep acquiring wild orchids without repercussion. Yet this is not the case when having a contract that stipulates the owner(s) of these wild orchids, whether the owner is a single individual or multiple government bodies. A contract would explicitly state the punishments or consequences of breaking this contract. So if someone other than the owner(s) takes these wild orchids without permission or properly paying for them, law enforcement can intervene. Therefore, a contract that establishes the ownership of these wild orchids makes it easier to enforce it when any violations arise.
Likewise, establishing ownership of wild orchids through a contract provides incentive for taking care of them along with protecting them against illegal trade. The author mentions in the article that in the orchid trading market, these flowers can potentially be worth as much as $14.6 million. But as mentioned earlier, these orchids are bought and sold at values way below their worth. Mainly because no one considers these flowers to be of much value, especially when they are found in nature and there is typically no person or entity that owns it. So people can easily take them without any legal repercussions. However, establishing ownership through a contract turns these unclaimed wild orchids into personal property of the owner(s). This gives them an incentive to take care of the wild orchids while protecting them from people taking and selling them illegally because these owners now have a personal and economical stake in wild orchids. Also, it presents an opportunity for either the owner(s) or people who happen to work for the owner(s) to be paid fairly in order to buy the wild orchids, whether locally or internationally. Thus, the owner(s) of the wild orchids, as stated in a contract, will have an incentive to take care of them and protect them from illegal trade.
Altogether, a contract establishing ownership of the wild orchids makes it easier to enforce and provide incentive for taking care of them as well as protecting them from illegal trade. First, a contract not only stipulates who owns the wild orchids but outlines the parameters for breaking the contract, which makes it easy for law enforcement to enforce. Next, establishing the owner(s) through a contract brings economical and personal value to the wild orchids, which adds an incentive to the owner(s) to preserve them while protecting them from illegal trade. Also, there is the incentive for the owner(s) and/or workers to receive a fair price from anyone wishing to buy the orchids. Taking everything into account, all countries including China can continue to trade orchids while minimizing the risks of them becoming extinct by promoting fair and legal practices that can help them grow and survive for years to come.
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