Changing legislative thinking in China to better protect wild animals and human health

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of China's legal protection of wildlife. Long-standing illegal wildlife trade in China and worldwide increases the risk of zoonotic infectious diseases. We sought to improve the understanding of China’ legal system for the protection of wildlife, which has at its core the wildlife protection law, by systematically evaluating the laws and regulations of China's Wildlife Protection Framework. We examined how existing legal documents (e.g., the Wildlife Protection Law 2018) are directly or indirectly related to wildlife conservation. The inherent defects of wildlife protection legislation include a narrow scope of protection, insufficient public participation, and inconsistent enforcement among responsible agencies. Solutions to improve China's Wildlife Protection Law include expanding the legal protection of wildlife, and improving monitoring of wildlife protection. Strengthening legislation will be the basis for effective regulation of the use of wild animals. We advocate the establishment of a sound wildlife protection legal system for resolving conflicts between humans and wild animals and preventing zoonotic disease, such a system will have a profound impact on the sustainable development of China's wildlife resources.     

碳边境调节机制：欧盟应对气候变化的新选择与中国因应

近年来，欧盟考虑在气候变化立法中引入碳边境调节机制，旨在消除境外企业由于碳排放成本不对称而获得的价格优势。这一机制对于欧盟对冲减排压力、助力工业回流、增强气候领导力以及推动绿色转型大有裨益。作为一种碳关税政策，该机制确有贸易壁垒之嫌，在国际法上存在较大合法性争议。但未来欧盟可通过制度设计使其符合《关税与贸易总协定》（GATT）第20条，进而获得实施可能性。对我国而言，该机制实施必将会在诸多领域对我国产生不利影响，但某种程度上也可倒逼我国出口结构和贸易方式的调整升级。基于此，今后我国应自上而下完善碳市场建设，适时推动“碳交易+碳税”复合政策双轮驱动；积极开展气候外交；促进我国承接国际产业转移和出口的可持续发展。在法律对策上，积极参与国际谈判与规则制定；完善气候治理体系；促进低碳外贸发展；健全可再生能源激励制度。     

主要发达国家碳达峰碳中和的实践经验及对中国的启示

气候变化问题是人类社会共同面临的重大挑战，关系到人类生存和各国利益。推进碳达峰碳中和是中国的一项重大战略决策，是负责任大国对国际社会的庄严承诺，也是推动高质量发展的内在要求。本文归纳分析欧盟、美国、日本、韩国、德国、英国等主要发达经济体碳达峰的经济社会特征、碳中和的路径共识，系统梳理推动实现碳达峰碳中和的经验举措，对比分析中国国内进展和差距，并提出重点借鉴的国际经验与启示。研究发现，中国已经逐步具备实现碳达峰国家的基本特征，但相比发达国家，在降碳效果核算评估、低碳安全高效能源系统构建、碳价格传导机制设计、低碳技术创新和新业态模式打造、法规制度系统化构建等方面仍有差距，仍需加强政策驱动和重点国际经验借鉴，进一步优化“双碳”目标评估指标体系，将构建清洁、低碳、安全、高效能源系统作为能源生产和消费革命的主要目标，有序推进碳排放权交易市场建设和能源资源市场化价格调控，强化绿色低碳技术的研发创新，加快构建形成系统性推动“双碳”目标的法规体系。     

Identifying opportunities for expert-mediated triangulation in monitoring wildlife trade on social media

Wildlife trade has rapidly expanded on social media platforms in recent years, offering an easy means for traders to access international markets. Investigating this trade activity poses a complex challenge to researchers seeking to understand online trade and moderators seeking to disrupt illicit and harmful activity. Current survey methods frequently rely on text-based searches and focus on posts in which the advertisement is explicit. However, such approaches risk overlooking a growing volume of relevant content, particularly outside social media groups. We used posts from pages promoting West African birds for trade as a case study to explore the availability of information for making inferences about trade activity on social media, specifically information indicating that trade activity was occurring or that could be used to infer trade routes. We recorded 400 posts from 12 pages that we inferred either promoted or facilitated wildlife trade, of which 19.7% were explicit advertisements and 23.8% contained taxa-related terms. In the remaining 341 posts, profile information was the most common indicator of trade activity, but a variety of indicators (e.g., images of birds in trade and trade enquiries) were identified across imagery, text, and comments. We identified multiple types of geographical information that could help infer trade routes and thus the likely legality of trade, although most were relatively rare and sometimes contradictory. Our findings suggest that triangulating multiple types of information from within, across, and beyond posts is vital for effectively identifying and interpreting wildlife trade content on social media. Therefore, were commend that expert-mediated triangulation should be integrated in and used alongside automated detection systems and moderating practices of social media companies.