A screenshot of the Healers For the Wild microsite. The site is part of social media and online campaigns organised by Traffic to spread awareness of the need for sustainability in TCM.
Organised by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic, the conference saw 105 participants from the industry – so many wanted to attend that spaces had to be added to the meeting rooms – and was supported by the Federation of Chinese Physicians and Medicine Dealers Associations of Malaysia and the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce for Traditional Medicines and Health Products .
The FCPMDAM is an umbrella organisation consisting of 44 TCM associations, with more than 7,000 practitioner and trader members throughout Malaysia; the MCHM has over 100 traders, manufacturers, and distributors among its members. Despite the availability of modern public hospitals and clinics and cutting-edge medicine, many in the Chinese community continue to patronise such stores to buy remedies for everything from the common cold to infertility.
This not only threatens the survival of these species but also puts TCM practices at odds with international wildlife protection laws, creating legal and ethical dilemmas for practitioners and consumers alike. It is also targeting future generations of healers by hosting educational programmes for TCM students to instil sustainable practices early on, as well as leveraging social media campaigns using influencers to reach a broader, younger audience.
“There were a few people in the federation who were quite responsive and proactive, and they introduced us to other associations, other industry players,” says Leslie Tsen, Traffic’s programme officer behind the initiative’s implementation. With that being said, changing a multibillion dollar industry is not without challenges, one being the verification process of the information that went into the handbook, such as sustainable alternative paths.