Pangolin Conservation Project

Among eight species of pangolins found in the world, two are found in Nepal. Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is listed as endangered and Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) as critically endangered species in IUCN Red list (Challender et al., 2019; Mahmood et al., 2019). Both of these species are protected as protected mammals of Nepal by the law of Nepal (Jnawali et al., 2015). The first National Pangolin Survey ever done in 2016 recorded Pangolin from 43 districts of Nepal (DNPWC and DoF, 2018). An extensive study including the literature review, direct and indirect signs and anecdotes in 2019 confirm its presence from 61 districts. A maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt 3.4.1) predicted 15.2 %(22,393 Km2) of the total area if Nepal as potentially suitable habitat and more importantly only 2940 Km2 (17% of the predicted area) lies inside the Protected Areas (PAs) management system of Nepal (Suwal et al., 2020).

After the National Pangolin Survey in 2016 Government of Nepal realizes the immediate need of conservation action of this poorly studied animal. In 2018 Nepal Government prepared “The Pangolin Conservation Action Plan for Nepal (2018-2022) to address the critical threats to pangolin conservation. Poaching and illegal trade for skins, scales, and meat; loss and degradation of their habitats, low conservation priority and poor knowledge on the species are the major threats identified so far (DNPWC and DoF, 2018). The Action Plan set a goal to secure the pangolin population from emerging threats to recover the species in the wild with four major objectives. The objectives include

i) Enhance understanding and knowledge on conservation status, ecology, habitat dynamics of pangolins,

ii) Curb poaching and control the illegal trade of pangolins,

iii) Identify and manage the habitat for pangolin conservation and

iv) Develop local stewardship for the conservation of pangolins.