This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
According to a recent UN report, the global ivory trade has seen a significant decline, while the trafficking of pangolins has surged over the past four years.
China's ban on selling ivory in 2017 appears to have contributed to the decline in ivory trafficking, which peaked around 2011-2013. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that national bans on selling ivory have further eroded ivory trafficking.
However, the trafficking of pangolins, a reclusive, nocturnal mammal covered in scales used in traditional Chinese medicine, has seen a significant surge. The UNODC reported that seizures of pangolin scales, mainly sourced in Africa, increased tenfold between 2014 and 2018.
UNODC research chief Angela Me noted, 'The World Wildlife Crime Report 2020 has some good news and some bad news.' She added, 'We see some shrinking in some markets, particularly the ivory and the rhino (horn) market, but we actually see huge increases in other markets, like the market of illicit trafficking of pangolins, in European eels but also in tiger parts and also in rosewood.'
The UNODC estimates that the annual income generated by ivory trafficking between 2016 and 2018 was USD400 million. The report also noted that the price of illegal ivory in China fell by more than half between 2014 and 2018.
It is estimated that 185 tons of pangolin scales were seized between 2014 and 2018, which would have resulted in the killing of roughly 370,000 animals.
