Out of Africa: How West and Central Africa have become the epicentre of ivory and pangolin scale trafficking to Asia details how endemic corruption, weak or absent rule of law, low levels of development and hotspots of armed conflict have left the region wide open to exploitation by well-organised transnational criminal gangs.
EIA has prepared analysis of the draft revision of China's Wildlife Protection Law, published for public comment in October 2020, along with recommendations for further revisions urgently needed to secure positive changes for threatened wildlife, including tigers, leopards, pangolins, elephants, rhinos and bears.
The world’s eight pangolin species are experiencing catastrophic levels of poaching and trafficking to feed demand for their scales, meat and other body parts. In 2016, the global community agreed to make the international commercial trade in pangolins and their parts and derivatives illegal.
The global illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is now recognised as a serious transnational organised crime. Although there are various estimates of the scale of the crime, the most commonly quoted figure puts the proceeds from IWT in a range of $7-23 billion a year.
With the announcement that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will make revisions to China’s Wildlife Protection Law, the country’s primary piece of legislation covering wildlife conservation and trade, EIA has prepared comments and specific recommendations (in English and Chinese) to urge positive changes for wildlife.
Ahead of the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), EIA has prepared comments and recommendations on listing proposals and working documents (as available at the time of writing)