Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is highly disturbed over frequent media reports of the rampant smuggling of pangolins a totally protected species in Malaysia.

Thailand, in particular - long noted for its notoriety as a transit point for the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people - has now emerged as a hub for smuggled pangolins from Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Thai Forestry department gave the figure of smuggled pangolins as at 1,944 in 2001 but within the first seven months of 2002, the number shot to 10,763. What is known is the number of reported figures and the number of unreported cases may be exceedingly higher.

The sharp increase in smuggling is largely due to orders from China where increased wealth has led to the consumption of various wildlife species at a rapid rate. Demands by exotic dish restaurants and medical outlets, catering to centuries-old superstitions, have led to a booming multibillion-dollar illegal trade in Asian wildlife.

In addition, lax laws and corrupt officials have made Southeast Asia one of the world's biggest black markets for wildlife.

SAM fears that a surge in rampant hunting and smuggling is likely to reduce the wildlife population to a crisis point. Since information on the status of the species is unknown, it would be difficult to breed pangolins, once they face the threat of extinction as a result of widespread smuggling.

With so little known about the elusive pangolin, it is difficult to say just what the impact of trade is on the wild population. More research is needed in order to see that the pangolin is afforded due protection in the wild.

Nevertheless, the trade in pangolins illustrates that illegal and unsustainable trade is a regional problem in Southeast Asia. Many Asian countries are under-funded and ill-equipped besides lacking powers of enforcement with most of their agencies overburdened with the illegal trade operating inside their own borders. They are thus unable to divert resources to international issues.

But governments throughout the region should be commended for taking the illegal wildlife trade seriously as shown through the number of significant seizures of smuggled pangolins and other protected species.

In the same vein, law enforcement agencies throughout the region could enhance their capacity to protect wildlife in protected areas and forest reserves, through good law enforcement and education.

At the same commercial trade in wildlife must be severely restricted or eliminated across much of the region, through both national policies and international collaborations.

Rampant poaching should be addressed through the training of rangers to equip them with the necessary know-how for the protection of wildlife and to further upgrade and beef up their departments.

In tandem with this, there should be a strict enforcement of regulations with heavy fines and jail sentences for the guilty. Last, but certainly not least, comprehensive wildlife management programmes urgently need to be implemented for endangered species.

Action is needed now to ensure the survival of Asia's wildlife and forests before its too late.

The writer is the president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia.