Social norms as solutions
Policies may influence large-scale behavioral tipping
Abstract
Climate change, biodiversity loss, antibiotic resistance, and other global challenges pose major collective action problems: A group benefits from a certain action, but no individual has sufficient incentive to act alone. Formal institutions, e.g., laws and treaties, have helped address issues like ozone depletion, lead pollution, and acid rain. However, formal institutions are not always able to enforce collectively desirable outcomes. In such cases, informal institutions, such as social norms, can be important. If conditions are right, policy can support social norm changes, helping address even global problems. To judge when this is realistic, and what role policy can play, we discuss three crucial questions: Is a tipping point likely to exist, such that vicious cycles of socially damaging behavior can potentially be turned into virtuous ones? Can policy create tipping points where none exist? Can policy push the system past the tipping point?
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Science
Volume 354 | Issue 6308
7 October 2016
7 October 2016
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Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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Published in print: 7 October 2016
Acknowledgments
The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences supported the authors' collaboration.
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RE: "Collective Action: Social norms as solutions
The deterministic effect of the CITES and nominal impacts of social norms on global wildlife trade
IN THEIR PAPER "Collective Action: Social norms as solutions" (Oct. 7, 354: 42-43), Nyborg et al. claimed: when formal institutions like laws and treaties are not able to enforce collectively desirable outcomes in global issues; then social norms can play important roles in global issue. In the just closed 17th Conference of Parties (CoP 17) of Convention on International Trade in Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa on Oct. 4, 2016, it seemed this assertion was not true.
International trade of wild animals and wild plants threated the survival of those ones in trade, thus for preventing the wild animals and plants from extinction due to international trade, countries in the world haves been working together under the banner of CITES since 1975. Now 183 countries have ratified the CITES. Over 5,600 species of animals and 30,000 species of plants are listed in the three CITES Appendices and thus are protected by the convention against over-exploitation through international trade (www.cites.org).
The demand for wild animals and plants is driven by impetus of consumers, therefore, on the other hand, social norms have been used in the endeavor of changing people's consuming behavior, even public figures like poplar NBA basketball star, Yao Ming, movies star Li Bingbing were employed in the campaign. But little effect was seen as consumers of wild animals and plants preferred goods of wild source (1). In 2010, The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and 4 other international bodies formed an International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime to curb wildlife trafficking crimes (www.unodc.org/unodc/en/wildlife-and-forest-crime/).
For an example, pangolins were listed in the Appendix II of CITES, which allowed sustainable trade but the listing failed to regulated the international trade level of pangolins (2), CITES then impose a zero quota for export of pangolins, nevertheless, the consumers cannot spare the wild delicacy (3), the illegal trade now even spread to African pangolins (cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/17/prop/060216/); consequently, CITES CoP 17 decided completely ban all trades of pangolins by listing all pangolins in CITES Appendix I.
In conclude, social norm have nominal effect in changing people's consuming behavior of wild animals and plants but the effect of CITES is deterministic in control illegal international trade of wild animals and plants.
Zhigang Jiang1, 2
1 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CITES Scientific Authority of P. R. China, Beijing 100101, China; 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
E-mail: [email protected]
References
1 Liu Z, et al. 2016. PLoS One 11(3): e0145901. 10.1371/journal.pone.0145901.
2 Zhou Z, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12: 97–98.
3 Challender DWS. 2012. Asian pangolins: increasing affluence driving hunting pressure. TRAFFIC Bull 23: 92–93.