Macrocosm: A Mixed Hope for Endangered Species Policies

Siegfried Modola / Stringer

The long-lived elephant. The small, scaled pangolin. The bulbous-nosed rhino. What do these three animals have in common? A wildlife range, to start. All three of these animals reside on the scorching grasslands and savannas of central Africa and Asia. They all typically only raise one or two offspring throughout their lifetime. And they all produce a keratinous growth on their body (made of the same material as our hair and teeth!), whether it be a horn, tusks, or protective scales.

These keratinous growths have led these three species to share a far more dire commonality: they represent the top three victims of all seizures by volume of illegal mammal trade worldwide. Ivory poaching is severe throughout West and Central Africa, and Mozambique is estimated to have lost over half of its elephant population in five years due to this practice. Pangolin scales, often used in traditional remedies across China and Vietnam, are gathered from a near-extinct population of small, fragile insect-eaters. Between 2014 and 2018, pangolin scales' seizures increased tenfold, each revealing scales of tens of thousands of pangolins, indicating highly organized criminal operations. Though rhino horn sales have reduced in recent years, and the market price has sharply declined, experts still worry. Any year where funding for their efforts cannot be obtained and a dependable workforce is not available for search and seizure could lead to a regroup and a resurgence of the cruel practice of killing rhinos for their horns.

Many governments have introduced bans on the killing and trading of endangered or threatened species in the hopes that populations may grow again. But how well does this work? According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, as with many environmental policies, "it depends."

The Good

According to a recent report from the EIA, poaching rates are decreasing. A study presented at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) showed that sightings of elephant carcasses in Africa declined sharply following a spike in 2011. From 2011 to 2017, Eastern Africa carcass sightings and poaching rates dropped by over 60%. A slight decrease was also shown in Asian elephant poaching from 2006-2018, following trends in tighter and more severe punishments for wildlife poaching. Kenya passed legislation in 2013 that required high minimum penalties for wildlife crime, including life imprisonment for significant offenses. This legislation, considered the harshest in the world, led to a record decrease in the number of animal deaths by poaching. Elephant deaths decreased by 80%, and rhino deaths decreased by 90%. Several African countries followed suit; Mozambique enacted a conservation law in 2014 that made wildlife poaching a severe crime, and Tanzania developed an elite task force to prosecute wildlife crimes.

In 2016, more than 180 nations banned most cross-border commercial trade in pangolins and their scales. They did so under CITES, which has boasted several success stories: the pirarucu's recovery from extinction and the American crocodile population in Mexico bounding back far enough for trade to resume. The official compendium of drugs covering traditional Eastern medicines ceased including pangolin scales in 2020, attributing the change to "wild resources exhaustion."

… At least, that's what was believed.

The Bad

Though some governments advocate for endangered species protections, their messages grow contradictory. Certain Eastern medicines still include pangolin scales, even after reports that the country has banned the trade and excised the scales from books on traditional medicine. 

Chris Maley, a senior pangolin campaigner at EIA, stated that this also occurred with leopard bone and bear bile. Both were removed as a key ingredient but stayed on medicine lists in other ways, which still creates a viable market for these illegal substances. Not only this, but the retention of these items makes a certain legitimacy to the slaughter and trade of endangered animals as a necessary cost of treatment, despite the multitude of safe, non-scarce solutions for poor blood circulation and abdominal pain.

Another potential obstacle to the recovery of critically endangered species is an incomplete ban - a ban that creates a dual-stream market. Certain species in CITES are listed differently: Appendix I listing fully bans commercial trade, only allowing trade for scientific purposes, while Appendix II- and Appendix III-listed species may be sold with specific requirements. 

This creates two markets - a legal one and an illegal one, and a strain on the proper authorities to document and regulate the right channels. Species can be traded through a great variety of perfectly legal standards if that species is captive-bred and then sold, or if it is exchanged within the borders of a single country (often, domestic markets do not enforce as tightly as international ones). Captive-bred species may be under different regulations, leading to a surge of farms of inbred jungle cats, which are then sold, genetic disorders, and all, to the highest bidder.

Annecoos Wiersema, a professor of law at the University of Denver, summarized the issue, "Incomplete bans cannot open the market up completely, because that would be too risky in such an unsustainable market. Yet, on the other side, they do not allow for the effects of a complete ban, including the possibility of a dramatic reduction in demand, to work." 

This tension and inconsistency can, and has, produced dire results. The Kleinmann's tortoise faced severe losses in population in the year before a ban went into effect, losing half of their total estimated adult population. This was due to the uncertainty around availability and the sudden influx of demand for a species before a true ban went into effect. The population is now down to maybe 1,000 adult tortoises, which could be less than the minimum viable population, dooming the species to extinction.

The Hopeful?

Trade bans, inconsistent legislature, and misleading resolutions have long plagued the world of policy. However, for many conservationists, this backlog of red tape and governmental inaction may doom species. Human action has led to a dramatic population loss of many unique and endemic species around the globe.

However, the Environmental Investigation Agency hasn't thrown in the towel. Every year, they produce an executive plan that outlines clear and detailed strategies to combat wildlife crime. In early 2021, they released a report that outlined a previously overlooked strategy used by smugglers: timber being utilized as a ferry for illegal wildlife goods. It shows pictures of hollowed-out logs carrying dozens of ivory tusks and pangolin scales. This is due to the relative ease of moving timber through ports and the lack of security around the timber trade.

They introduce legislation that could be brought before multiple government boards around the globe, like the Crime Congress in Kyoto and the UN General Assembly's Special Session on anti-corruption. They will bring forward their research and resolutions at these assemblies, then work with world leaders to craft and implement well-informed legislation to fight smuggling across borders. This, in turn, will lower the intentional mortality created by humans toward critically endangered species.

And though pangolins, elephants, and rhinos may already have a few things in common, perhaps soon they will have one more: a label of 'Least Concern,' given to species so plentiful that we feel secure in their continued survival.