Foundation says raising awareness a matter of urgency
2019/5/6 14:14:00 本站

By Cao Siqi Source:Global Times


Africa Knight (masked) with two Beijing primary school students holding up two posters calling for the protection of wildlife at the office of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation in Beijing on April 19. Photo: Cao Siqi/GT


For "Africa Knight", a 30-year-old mother, her first impression of Nigeria was the lack of awareness in protecting endangered wildlife such as pangolins. There are hardly any advertisements in public places reminding people the threat to the endangered species. 

"Africa Knight" is a volunteer from the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, one of China's leading non-profit public foundations and social legal entities dedicated to biodiversity conservation. At the end of March, she went to Nigeria alone to investigate the local wild animal and pangolin situation. 

The one-month survey made her realize that Nigeria has become one of the major hubs of the global illegal pangolin trade, and persuading Chinese consumers not to eat pangolin is a matter of urgency. 

Known as "forest guards," pangolins prey on ants and termites, which protects forests, dykes and dams. Pangolins are the world's most heavily trafficked mammal. They are under second-class state protection in China and the highest level of protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which prohibits international trade of all the eight pangolin species. 

In recent years, the number of wild pangolins in some Asian countries has been declining, while the amount of pangolins and their scales smuggled from Africa is increasing. 

In February, Hong Kong customs intercepted 8.3 tons of pangolin scales, underscoring the threat to endangered species from demand in Asia. Officials said the haul came in a refrigerated container labeled as frozen meat from Nigeria. 

Meanwhile, a recent survey from the foundation also shows that between 2016 and 2019, among all the seized smuggled pangolins, around 73.1 tons of them came from Nigeria. 

Although there are provisions on the protection of wildlife in Nigeria, they have not been implemented. The relevant law enforcement agencies are ineffective, and there has been no crackdown on the trafficking, consumption and killing of wild animals, "Africa Knight" told the Global Times. 

"For example, even if the police were standing at the wild animal market gate, they turn a blind eye to the selling of wild animals," she said, adding that the international community should pay more attention to the situation.

Trade source?

Located in southeast of West Africa, Nigeria has a population of 173 million, which accounts for 16 percent of the total population in Africa. Nigeria's economy has developed rapidly over the past 10 years. By 2016, Nigeria's economy had surpassed South Africa's, becoming Africa's top and the world's 26th largest economy. 

As economic exchanges with Nigeria increase, more and more Chinese people have gone there to live. "I don't know how many Chinese are living there, but when I stayed there, I saw Chinese people very often," said "Africa Knight."

After arriving in Lagos, "Africa Knight" found a local boy who sold wild animals to Chinese. The young man claimed that he sells everything, including rhinoceros horn, pangolin scales and ivory. A pangolin costs 15,000 naira ($45). On the second day, two young men brought a bag. One of the boys took out two pangolins and kicked them to prove that they were alive.


A pangolin dies from high temperature and suffocation in a bag after being captured by a local boy in Nigeria. Photo: Courtesy of Africa Knight


"Africa Knight" said Chinese people who live there eat pangolins because "they think that the medical conditions in this place are not good and drinking pangolin soup can improve their immunity."

While one pangolin is sold in Nigeria for around 300 yuan and pangolin scales at about 190 yuan for one kilogram, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, some people openly sell live pangolins on the internet at about 3,000 yuan for one kilogram. Some pangolins can be sold for up to 90,000 yuan, said "Africa Knight." 

As customs enforcement in some cities in Nigeria is not very strict, it is easy for some Chinese people to smuggle pangolin scales to China for profit, she added. 

However, Nigerian officials claim that their country is not the source but is being used as a transit for the illegal wildlife trade. 

In August 2018, the Nigerian Government launched investigations into the seizure by the Japanese Customs Service of about 7,100 kilograms of pangolin scales alleged to have originated from Nigeria.

Nigeria's Minister of Environment Ibrahim Usman Jibril said that the source could not have been Nigeria as pangolins were near extinction in the country and noted that Nigeria is being used as a transit route for illegal wildlife trade and the image of his nation is being harmed, according to the website of Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Information and Culture. 

According to a report published by the Business in Cameroon, four smugglers have just been arrested with 300 kilograms of ivory and 2.5 tons of pangolin scales in Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital. Laga, a well-known wildlife protection NGO in Cameroon, said preliminary investigations showed that they were long-term traffickers, mainly supplying the Nigerian illegal market. 

Taking action


China has strengthened the protection of pangolins in recent years. A series of campaigns against pangolin trafficking has been launched by Chinese customs and public security departments. A total of 209 pangolin smuggling cases were discovered from 2007 to 2016, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

For example, Central China's Hunan Province published a statement announcing a ban on wild animal poaching across the province, while East China's Anhui Province has launched regular surveys to establish comprehensive records of wild animals and their habitats. Customs authorities in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, used technologies including intelligent CT scans and big data to search for illicit items. In February, Chengdu customs discovered three tins of albumen powder when checking an African flight, which was later identified as pangolin scale powder.


Zhou Jinfeng, secretary general of the foundation, called for the establishment of a database for pangolin protection, which would be used to record information on pangolins and pangolin products seized by customs authorities.

In May, a special regulation on the protection of pangolins will come out, Zhou told the Global Times.


Original news article:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1148559.shtml