The Pangolin Crisis Fund launched in 2019 with $100,000 to fund projects designed to save pangolins, and has a goal of raising and deploying $1.5 million by the end of 2021.
The Pangolin Crisis Fund will invest in projects that are aligned with the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group’s strategies as outlined in their Scaling Up Action Plan, such as:
Decrease demand for pangolin scales and meat through targeted campaigns to consumers and by building relationships with government policymakers.
Strengthen agencies that are protecting pangolins and their habitat such as anti-poaching units, aiding customs, and protected area management.
Reduce the illegal trade of pangolins at national, regional, and global levels. Includes judicial reform and anti-trafficking tools and requires creating close alliances with domestic and international law enforcement and policymakers.
Raising the profile of pangolins as a first step towards changing behavior and encouraging conservation support.
Working with local communities living adjacent to pangolin habitat so they see pangolins as something worth more alive than poached.
Given the major gaps in knowledge about pangolins, research is needed to identify and monitor pangolin strongholds, the distribution and abundance of populations, and the extent of threats like demand and trade; and multi-stakeholder processes are needed in order to prioritize and monitor conservation interventions.
