What is Cameroon’s role in the illicit trade in pangolins? Cameroon is home to three species of pangolin (giant pangolin, white bellied and black-bellied pangolin), which are among the four species found in Central Africa. No documentation exists on the exact year when the illicit trade started in the country. Besides being a source, Cameroon…
What is China’s role in the illicit trade? China is the world’s largest consumer of pangolin parts, especially the scales, which are used for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The depletion of the local species, Chinese pangolins, has led to an influx of both legally imported and smuggled pangolin scales into China from Africa and Southeast…
What is Hong Kong’s role in the illicit trade? Hong Kong is a major transit hub for smuggled pangolins, serving as a gateway from African countries like Nigeria and Cameroon into mainland China. The number of seizures has greatly increased in the past six years. Hong Kong Customs has seized more than 26 tonnes of…
What is Indonesia’s role in the illicit trade? Indonesia is home to numerous protected wildlife, including one species of pangolin, namely Sunda pangolin or Manis javanica. This species can be found in Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan. Sunda pangolin is currently listed as “critically endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List…
What is Malaysia’s role in the illicit trade of pangolins? Malaysia is home to the Sunda pangolin, one of eight existing species of pangolins in the world. It is also known to be a source and transit country in the global pangolin trade, including those from Africa. Seizure records show that it is in the…
What is Nepal’s role in the illicit trade? Nepal, which borders China, serves as both a supply site and transit point for illegal pangolin trade — both of live animals and body parts. Pangolins are also consumed domestically, hunted by some indigenous groups, which consider them a delicacy. Body parts seized recently in Nepal prove that the…
What is Nigeria’s role in the illicit trade of pangolins? Nigeria has become the number-one country in the world in the illegal pangolin trade since 2016, when the last Conference of Parties to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) was held in South Africa. Nigeria is the nation…
Taiwan is a haven for wild pangolins despite its proximity to China and Vietnam, the largest consumers of pangolins. However, there are fears that Taiwan may be used as an illegal transit point in the global trafficking of pangolins.
What is Vietnam’s role in the illicit trade? Vietnam is the destination, transit spot and also the origin of trafficked pangolins. Vietnam, along with China, is one of the largest markets of this illegal trade, according to NGOs such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and WildAid. The country’s emerging middle class…