Angola Project Turning Former Hunters into Forest Guardians is Saving Pangolins

An environmental conservation project operating in Angola's Cuanza Sul province has developed a highly innovative method to save endangered pangolins. This initiative, conducted by the Cuerama Foundation, has succeeded in transforming local pangolin hunters in the region into forest guardians. Thanks to the project, more than 50 pangolins have been returned to their natural habitats since 2024. The Foundation was established in the village of Cuerama, 350 kilometers away from Luanda, and places great importance on local development in areas such as education, vocational training, and health. This comprehensive approach aims both to protect endangered species and to improve the living standards of rural communities.

According to the Foundation's Impact Director Sara Carvalho, this idea emerged completely by chance during environmental education activities with children. Pangolin meat, in addition to being traditionally consumed by local people, has the tragic reputation of being the most trafficked animal in the world. The animal's scales and claws are sold at high prices for medical purposes in Asian markets, and are also used in local witchcraft and traditional rituals. To combat these multifaceted threats, the Foundation decided to launch a special program called 'Guardians of the Forest' (Guardiões da Floresta). The main goal of the program is to raise awareness among hunters in the village, encouraging them to stop hunting these animals and become part of nature.

Convincing a hunter to give up the financial income generated from selling the animal and transforming them into its protector is by no means an easy process. To solve this problem, the Foundation collaborated closely with the local 'sobas', meaning traditional local authorities and leaders. With the support of traditional authorities behind them, the team held one-on-one meetings with hunters, providing in-depth training on biodiversity and the conservation of natural resources. The conservation team currently consists of 13 members, including women without a hunting background who want to protect nature. Members of the community in other regions are also inspired by this work and continue their efforts to spread environmental awareness.

Pangolins are creatures that play a vital role in Angola's local ecosystem and agriculture. These shy, nocturnal mammals help control agricultural pests by eating more than 70 million ants and termites annually. The Temminck's ground pangolin and white-bellied pangolin species living in the country are classified as 'Vulnerable' on the Angola Red List and continue to live together in the Cuerama region. Within the scope of conservation projects, not only are animals saved, but reforestation efforts are also carried out for degraded forest areas. According to an international report published in August of this year, all eight pangolin species in the world face a high risk of extinction due to habitat loss and overexploitation.

Although the identification of trade routes as part of the fight against smuggling is still in its early stages, the Foundation has begun creating concrete maps demonstrating the severity of the situation. According to international data, between 2016 and 2024 alone, parts of more than half a million pangolins were seized across 178 different routes in 75 countries. These figures reveal the horrific scale of the global illegal trade, considering that only one percent of the seized goods consists of scales. In recent years, the Angolan government has also increased seizure operations targeting scales in the country, organizing large-scale operations against ivory and pangolin scale smugglers, particularly in 2018 and 2019. All these global and local efforts are further strengthened by cooperation protocols signed by institutions such as the Cuerama Foundation and the National Biodiversity Institute.