Veronica Dandzo-Adzagudu
Ghana is home to three pangolin species: the White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and the Giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), both classified as Endangered (IUCN Red List 2024), and the Black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla), which is classified as Vulnerable (IUCN Red List 2024). Pangolins are classified under Schedule 1 of the Ghana Wildlife Conservation Act 1971, prohibiting their hunting or possession. However, increasing unsustainable exploitation for meat and medicinal products, coupled with ongoing habitat loss due to deforestation, further exacerbates the plight of these species.
White-bellied pangolin. ©Threatened Species Conservation Alliance (THRESCOAL).
Despite these known threats, pangolin conservation is still hampered by the scarcity of ecological knowledge essential to properly plan and implement sound conservation actions. This is partly because pangolins are cryptic species, which makes it challenging to study their ecology using conventional survey methods only. Furthermore, most published pangolin research in Ghana has focused mainly on local knowledge and use of the species.
The goal of this project is to address critical knowledge gaps in the Plan and Act phases of pangolin conservation in Ghana by combining existing pangolin occurrence data with Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) and advanced modelling to understand factors that affect pangolin distribution in Ghana, and how these distributions will be influenced by future climatic changes. We aim to achieve this goal by accomplishing the following objectives:
1. Identify hotspot areas for the three pangolin species in Ghana using species distribution modelling, which will provide insights into the ecological and anthropogenic factors that influence pangolin distribution and how these distributions may change in response to climate change.
2. Validate the accuracy of each pangolin species’ distribution model by ground-truthing pangolin presence in three randomly selected areas predicted to be suitable habitats but are yet to be explored.
3. Raise awareness of the plight and conservation importance of pangolins in a selected community fringing critical pangolin habitat in Ghana.
This project will contribute critical ecological knowledge to inform sound pangolin conservation in Ghana and ultimately contribute to the implementation phases of the West African Regional Conservation Action Plan for Pangolins. Furthermore, this project will contribute to the Assess phase of the IUCN Species Conservation Cycle by providing updated information for the Red List assessment for each of these species.