The largest international effort put in place to protect the pangolin species was done through the 1975 enaction of CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. CITES offers protection to more than 37,000 species of plants and animals that are traded across international borders. International trade of every species of pangolin is currently banned, though seizures of illegally traded goods are still being conducted. In 2018, stricter measures were defined by CITES to help combat illegal trading, including risk-profiling measures for port authority officials as well as an inventory tracking system to monitor stockpiles of pangolin scales.

Other partner organizations are also being called on in the fight to protect pangolins, including the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), to assist with analytical and investigational operations of the illegal pangolin trade across Asia. What is needed to further the efforts of these (and other) groups is compliance and enforcement of policies at the national and sub-national levels, and assistance by local community officials in maintaining the designated pangolin wildlife protected areas.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has a photo gallery of products containing illegally-harvested pangolin leather, scales, and other body parts so that consumers know what to look for and report. If you suspect you've encountered a suspicious item made from protected wildlife, there is a tool available to report your finding:

Pangolins play a critical role in their ecosystems to the extent that they are known as guardians of the forest. They serve as important consumers in their food chains by bringing ecological balance as rampant insectivores - a single pangolin can consume enough insects to represent millions of dollars saved in pest control annually. They also serve as important tillers of the soil, assisting in turnover and aiding the decomposition cycle to improve the nutrient quality for further vegetative growth.