Pangolin Protectors

Last year the UK hosted governments from around the world to galvanise international action to combat the illegal trade in wild animals – The London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade. Botswana will be hosting a follow-up conference in Gabarone next month.

One animal under particular threat in this part of Asia is the pangolin. To draw attention to its plight, we hosted a visit by Louise Fletcher, UK conservationist and pangolin expert, to hold a series of events in Brunei last week in the run up to World Pangolin Day on 21 February.

Brunei attaches huge importance to protecting its valuable biodiversity, making it an excellent location to raise awareness of pangolins and to discuss practical means to protect the species.

Working closely with the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources and a wide range of wildlife and environmental groups, including 1StopBrunei, Louise held a series of workshops here and took part in field visits.

Raising awareness among young people was a key aim of Louise’s visit, so she visited a number of schools. Louise, who studied at Bristol and Exeter Universities, also spoke at our major Education UK event. This was particularly appropriate as the British Universities Brunei Association had chosen sustainability as the theme of its popular annual schools competition.

I joined Louise again on Saturday morning, at a school event at International School Brunei (ISB) to coincide with World Pangolin Day. Louise spoke with great passion about her subject and showed a short film produced in Brunei about threats to the pangolin.

It was great to see the enthusiasm with which the youngsters produced artwork on the spot, all to promote themselves as Pangolin Protectors. It’s by raising awareness amongst this next generation that we can best hope to make a difference and to protect such species as the pangolin which make an important contribution to the jungle ecosystem.

More photos from Louise’s visit to Brunei can be found here.