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