An article in South African media Daily Maverick has hailed China’s ban on buying and selling wildlife as a move that could herald a massive global change.

The article, entitled “A Sea Change in China’s Attitude Towards Wildlife Exploitation may just Save the Planet”, said: Last week, Wuhan provided the first act to another possible revolution when China announced that buying and selling wild animals for food was now thoroughly banned.

It called the move the ‘most monumental announcement’ since the ivory ban, while conservationists have praised it as a potential turning point in a decades-long activist campaign to choke an industry that holds non-human life to ransom.

“China’s statements indicate a sea change in the government’s attitude towards wildlife exploitation since the 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic. This is reflected in changed public values,” WildAid CEO Peter Knights told media.

Knights said,“You have to start taking global developments like climate change seriously — and much of the rest of the world is now looking for ‘long-view’ leadership. China, as the world’s superpower, is stepping into that void.”

“This is China’s most monumental announcement since it banned ivory in 2017,” Humane Society International said in a statement. The “decision has the potential to affect even more animals, because of the sheer volume and number involved in the wildlife trade”.

The welfare organisation hailed the move as China’s “most decisive action yet”. It “elevates the ban from administrative action to the level of national law”.

TRAFFIC, the wildlife-trade monitoring network, praised “China’s firm and targeted measures”.

Dr Peter J Li, associate professor of East Asian politics at the University of Houston-Downtown, Texas, and also a China policy specialist with Humane Society International, echoed these views.

“President Xi has an opportunity to act in favour of global environmental protection. It is never too late for China to act. Xi can plan long-term development,” said Li.

Legislative details of how the full ban will be implemented in real terms are likely to emerge in the coming days and weeks.