Summary of data included in this study.

The commercial trade in wild meat is booming in Central Africa. Addressing this issue is a global priority because the trade poses a major threat to biodiversity and human health. We investigated the impact of socioeconomic factors, public health emergencies, and conservation efforts on the wild meat trade using daily surveys of wild meat markets on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea (EG), from 1997 through 2021. Bioko is an ideal location for examining how external factors impact the wild meat market trade. Although small, the island has large areas of intact forest that host populations of commercially valuable wildlife; low-cost protein substitutes are available; and Malabo, the island’s only large metropolitan area and wild meat trading hub, hosts a wealthy class of urbanites. We found significant associations between global market trends and the wild meat trade, especially China’s foreign investment and oil production in the US and EG. Economic crises like EG’s 2009 economic downturn that followed a global crash in oil prices and reduced production, redirected demand towards cheaper mainland wildlife carcasses amid reduced consumer demand. Public health emergencies had the most comprehensive impact on the wild meat trade. The 2014 Ebola outbreak and the COVID-19 pandemic both induced shifts in market demand, and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade routes, affecting both urban and rural markets. Internally, we observed market decentralization over the last decade and changes in wildlife supply chains during public health emergencies. Conservation policies, including anti-poaching measures and educational outreach, temporarily influenced wildlife market trends, sometimes leading to trading surges in endangered primate carcasses. Our study highlights the importance of monitoring global market trends, public health campaigns, and adapting conservation strategies to disrupt wildlife supply chains and curb consumer demand for wild meat.中非地区的野生肉类商业贸易正呈蓬勃发展之势。应对这一问题已成为全球优先事项，因为该贸易对生物多样性与人类健康均构成重大威胁。我们于1997年至2021年间，通过对赤道几内亚（Equatorial Guinea，简称EG）比奥科岛上的野生肉类市场开展每日调查，探究了社会经济因素、公共卫生突发事件以及保护举措对野生肉类贸易的影响。比奥科岛是探究外部因素如何影响野生肉类市场贸易的理想研究地点。尽管该岛面积不大，但拥有大片原生森林，栖息着诸多具有商业价值的野生动物种群；当地可获取低成本蛋白质替代物；而岛上唯一的大型都会区、野生肉类贸易枢纽马拉博（Malabo），则聚集了一批富裕的城市居民。我们发现，全球市场趋势与野生肉类贸易之间存在显著关联，尤其是中国的对外投资以及美国与赤道几内亚的石油生产情况。例如2009年赤道几内亚因全球油价暴跌及产量缩减而陷入的经济衰退，这类经济危机在消费者需求下滑之际，将需求转向了更廉价的大陆地区野生动物尸体。公共卫生突发事件对野生肉类贸易的影响最为全面。2014年埃博拉疫情与新冠疫情（COVID-19）均引发了市场需求的转变，而新冠疫情还扰乱了贸易路线，对城市与乡村市场均造成影响。通过本次研究的内部观测，我们发现过去十年间市场呈现去中心化趋势，且公共卫生突发事件期间野生动物供应链发生了变化。反盗猎举措与宣教推广等保护政策，曾暂时对野生动物市场趋势产生影响，有时还会导致濒危灵长类动物尸体的交易规模激增。本研究强调了监测全球市场趋势、开展公共卫生宣传，以及调整保护策略以切断野生动物供应链、遏制野生肉类消费需求的重要性。