CBCGDF Held a Preparatory Meeting for the “African Warrior’s Investigation Report on Pangolins from Nigeria” Release Conference, the Secretary-General and the "Pangolin Girl" of CBCGDF Deployed Work
2019/4/12 12:07:00 本站

On the morning of April 11, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) held a preparatory working meeting for an upcoming “CBCGDF African Warrior's Report on Pangolins from Nigeria” Release Conference. Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of CBCGDF and the “Pangolin Girl” Sophia of CBCGDF deployed related work.

 

This conference will be held on the occasion of the arrival of Earth Day 2019. Its special background is that pangolins are the mammals suffer the most from being illegally traded in the world. The so-called “edible and medicinal value” brings huge market demand and high profits, which is a catalyst for smugglers to take risks. It led to the introduction of pangolins to the extinction. In 2018, several cases of smuggling of pangolin scales that were shocked around the world were directed to Nigeria. So why it always comes from Nigeria? What is the position of this country in the illegal trade chain of pangolins? CBCGDF has been very concerned about the state of pangolins in Nigeria and has repeatedly written to call the world to listen to the voice of Nigeria, the African country itself, before the conclusions of the investigation surface.

 

As President Xi said, mankind and nature are life communities; ecological civilization construction is about the future of mankind. Protecting wild animals is a common cause for building an ecological civilization for all mankind. The Chinese government has already stated that it is firmly opposed to any crime against wild animals and plants and upholds a "zero tolerance" attitude.

 

Why always it is Nigeria? Because there is an endless stream of pangolins illegal trade; it is one of the hot spots for the world to pay attention to and solve the issue of pangolins illegal trade.

 

For example, in May 2017, March 2018, and July 2018, the Customs and Excise Department seized three large-scale smuggling pangolin scales cases, and seized 17.1 tons of pangolin scales, all of which were from Nigeria; On September 28, 2018, the Vietnamese Customs seized more than 2,500 kilograms of pangolin scales and originated in Nigeria. On January 16, 2019, the Customs and Excise Department of Hongkong and the Mainland Customs jointly took action and seized 8,300 kilograms (from about 13,000 pangolins). It showed again was from Nigeria; on April 3, 2019, Singapore seized 12.9 tons of pangolin scales, once again showing from Nigeria... Why, again and again?

 

In order to promote the eco-friendly and green “Belt and Road”, to help China and Africa collaborate on ecological civilization construction, protect endangered species pangolins, and combat illegal wildlife trade, CBCGDF is scheduled to hold a “CBCGDF African Warrior's Pangolins Report from Nigeria Release Conference” on April 19, 2019 to promote the green and eco-friendly "Belt and Road" from a civil society’s perspective, and effectively participate in and promote global environmental governance.

 

This conference will be hosted by the "Pangolin Girl" Sophia. A special report will be released by the CBCGDF brave volunteer “African Warrior” who went to Africa to conduct a black-market transaction investigation in the field. At the same time, CBCGDF will publish a report "We and Nigeria in 2019: Protecting Pangolins and Protecting the Earth”.

 

This conference is to invite a number of representatives from the relevant units engaged in pangolin protection, representatives of non-governmental organizations in the field of wildlife protection at home and abroad, African Union, the embassies of African countries such as Nigeria, and representatives from the “going out” enterprises along the “Belt and Road” in Africa. It aims at forming cohesiveness and building a green and eco-friendly “Belt and Road”. (Please contact: wj@cbcgdf.org)


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(Photo credit: CBCGDF)


Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/uBbsumRe-BajuRdu2fGLCw


By / Niu Jingmei