Manis javanica

Indonesia is home to one species of pangolin, the Sunda Pangolin Manis javanica, which can be found from Sumatra, Java and adjacent islands to Kalimantan. While little is known about the population of pangolins in Indonesia, it is likely that current trade and hunting levels are unsustainable. There is evidence of professional and industrial-scale hunting for the purposes of commercial international trade. This report provides an insight into the illegal trade of pangolins involving Indonesia by analysing seizure data between 2010 and 2015.

Pangolins are the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world. This report explores Lao PDR’s role in the illegal pangolin trade and discusses the findings of two market surveys, conducted in several locations as well as the outcomes of an analysis of pangolin seizures that involved Lao PDR as either an origin, transit, seizure or destination country between 2010 and 2015.

Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are unique in being the world's only truly scaly mammals, but are in dire need of urgent conservation action. Pangolins have been subject to very little conservation or natural history research, and consequently, little is known about their biology, ecology, and conservation needs. It was in response to this predicament that the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group was re-formed in 2012. Its first conference was held in Singapore in June 2013, and it is from this meeting that this conservation action plan was borne.

The key objective of this Workshop was to gather a ‘steering group’ of government departments, non-government organizations (NGOs) and research institutions in Southeast Asia to raise awareness of the magnitude of the pangolin trade and discuss how to combat the illegal trade. The outputs included a list of recommendations and follow-up actions to be circulated among relevant organizations, which would assist enforcement agencies in prioritizing and focusing their efforts to halt this illegal trade.