Ethiopia Wildlife Trafficking Assessment
Ethiopia is a transit hub for wildlife moving eastward—85% percent of known Ethiopian trafficking instances were destined for Asia.
Ivory is the most commonly smuggled wildlife product in Ethiopian trafficking instances (present in over 80% of known seizures), followed by rhino horn and pangolin (each present in approximately 20% - note that these percentages collectively exceed 100 because a single trafficking instance can contain multiple species). The number of known Ethiopian trafficking instances rose by over 200% from 2017 to 2019, to 27 shipments. However, this increase in shipment number has coincided with an even sharper decrease in shipment size. As a result, the total weight of ivory seized along Ethiopian air routes in 2019 is just 2% of the weight seized in 2017. Lastly, in the past two years, all known Ethiopian trafficking instances have stopped downstream of Ethiopia, that is, after having already transited through the country.
