The Role of Transnational Criminal Networks and China's Legal Pangolin Scale Medicine Market in Driving the Global Illegal Pangolin Trade.

By The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA)

All eight pangolin species are facing an unprecedented threat from the transnational trafficking of their scales and meat by criminal networks. • Between 2017, when the Appendix I listing for all pangolin species entered force, and July 2021, at least 269 tonnes of pangolin scales were confiscated globally. • Pangolin scales are trafficked to China, often via Vietnam, and are primarily sourced from West, Central and East Africa. • Nigeria, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the top export hubs for pangolin scales trafficked from Africa to Asia. • Global pangolin trafficking is driven by consumer demand for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products containing pangolin scales. • In China, licenced hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can legally trade and utilise pangolin scales from privately held stockpiles. • In 2020, 56 pharmaceutical companies in China were confirmed to be advertising 64 manufactured medicines containing pangolin scales online. • It is very likely that demand for pangolin scales in China far exceeds the legally available supply from stockpiles. …

London; Washington DC: EIA, 2021. 18P.