Strategic Framework

Pangolins remain the most trafficked mammals in the world, with an estimated 1,000,000 individuals trafficked over a 10-year period (Wildlife Justice Commission, 2025). As Asian pangolin populations declined, African pangolins became increasingly exploited to supply international markets, with African countries emerging as major sources of large-scale shipments of pangolin scales (Heinrich et al., 2017).

Despite pangolins holding the highest level of international trade protection since 2016, a CITES-commissioned review found that seizures between 2016 and 2024 involved an estimated half a million pangolins across 75 countries and 178 trade routes (IUCN, 2025) — clear evidence that trade bans alone haven’t stopped the trade.

Local demand compounds the international problem. In various parts of Africa, pangolins have long been used in traditional medicine (Boakye et al., 2014) and hunted as bushmeat (Boakye, 2016).

Beyond poaching, pangolins face significant “silent” threats from human infrastructure. Electric fencing is a major source of mortality for Temminck’s pangolins in South Africa, with published estimates suggesting approximately 377 – 1,028 individuals may be electrocuted annually, although the true figure may be higher (Pietersen et al., 2020). Other anthropogenic threats include road mortality, habitat loss and transformation, and accidental capture in traps (Pietersen, McKechnie & Jansen, 2014).

Reliable population estimates remain unavailable across much of the African range states, making it difficult to measure population trends or assess the effectiveness of conservation interventions. Illegal-trade data are similarly incomplete, as seizure records represent only a detected fraction of trafficking and are influenced by differences in enforcing and reporting (Morin et al., 2020).

In practice, this means the “pangolin crisis” is not one data gap but several — no population baseline against which decline or recovery can be measured, and inconsistent enforcement reporting that leaves trafficking scale to be inferred from seizures rather than known directly. Until these gaps close, conservation organisations are essentially working blind: unable to prove impact, prioritise resources, or hold trade commitments accountable.

Although awareness of pangolins has increased substantially over the past decade, knowledge of the animal remains uneven (Thomas & Fletches, 2020). In many range states, local communities aren’t included in conservation planning — and without grassroots awareness of pangolins’ ecological importance or how to protect them, exploitation continues largely unchecked (IUCN, 2025).

Pangolins are yet to be universally recognisable in the way that ‘lion’ or ‘elephant’ conjures an image for most people. Furthermore, pangolins are yet to be given pride of place in Africa’s natural heritage.