Pangolin Conservation: FG set to sign Agreement on Transboundary Ecosystem Conservation

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

Following efforts to stop pangolins trade, the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, has informed that Nigeria is set to sign a Cooperation Framework Agreement on Transboundary Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forestry and Wildlife Resources with Cameroun.

In her keynote address at an event organised by the Conservation Guild Nigeria, the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, represented by the Director General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Aliyu Jauro, said achieving sustainability without community action is a challenge to sustainable wildlife resources.

Ikeazor said the ministry’s mission is to ensure environmental protection, natural resources conservation, and sustainable development, adding that the country is set to sign a Cooperation Framework Agreement on Transboundary Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forestry and Wildlife Resources with Cameroun.

The Conservator-general, National Park Service, Ibrahim Goni, said President Muhammadu Buhari had recently approved the establishment of 10 new national parks in the country, to enhance efforts and commitment to tackling illegal wildlife trade in the country.

According to him, the theme for the 2022 World Pangolin Day is especially relevant because the conservation of any animal species, including the pangolins, is impossible without the cooperation of the community where these species are found.

The Chairman and convener, Pangolin Conservation Guild Nigeria, Olajumoke Morenikeji, urged that to solve the problem, the existing conservation laws in the country should be amended and better enforced, to discourage hunting and poaching of pangolins and other wildlife animals.