Rhinos on the Rise: WWF Seeks to Extend Conservation Success

After bringing Africa's black rhinos back from the brink of extinction, the global conservation organization WWF celebrated the first decade of its African Rhino Program by inviting more countries to become involved.

Celebrants included government and wildlife representatives, community representatives and ecotourism operators from South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, all countries that are now participants in the WWF African Rhino Program.

Also on hand were the directors or deputy directors of the national wildlife services of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia - countries where WWF is exploring expansion of the successful conservation program.

"What we have shown is that in partnership with governments and communities and business it is possible to stave off extinction for the rhino in some of its former range," said WWF International's Species program Director Dr. Susan Lieberman.

"The task now," she said, "is to secure a future for the rhino in the rest of its range, where threats from poaching and development urgently need to be addressed."

One of 12 black rhinos relocated to the Pongola Game Reserve in 2006 (Photo courtesy Pongola Game Reserve)

Africa's savannas once were inhabited by more than a million white and black rhinos. But hunting by European settlers wiped out most of the animals, whose horns are valued for ornamental and medicinal purposes.

The southern white rhino was close to extinction by the late 19th century. Trade in rhino horn peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, when huge quantities were shipped to the lucrative markets of the Middle East and Asia.

Responding to the crisis, both species of African rhino were listed in 1977 in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, which prohibits all international trade of rhino parts and products.

Despite this international legal protection, the black rhino population at its lowest point dipped to 2,400 in 1995. In 1997, there were 8,466 white rhinos and 2,599 black rhinos remaining in the wild.

Today, there are 14,500 white rhinos and nearly 4,000 of the more endangered black rhinos.

Populations of white rhino in South Africa and Swaziland have even been moved to CITES Appendix II which allows strictly regulated trade. In these two countries limited sustainable use options have provided economic incentives for further investment in rhino conservation.

"What we know from looking back at the last 10 years is that sustained conservation can and does work," says George Kampamba, WWF International's African Rhino Program coordinator.

According to the African Rhino Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, Africa's white and black rhino numbers have shown annual growth rates of 6.8 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, since 1995.

Most of Africa's black rhinos are found in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, where the species' decline has been stopped through effective security monitoring, better biological management, and wildlife-based tourism.

Extensive assistance has enabled communities to benefit from the presence of rhinos rather than being in conflict with them.

Wildlife experts ready a sedated rhino for release into Pongola Game Reserve. (Photo courtesy PGR)

The African Rhino Program uses rhinos as a "flagship species" and "part of a process of ecosystem and landscape conservation, wtih a clear understanding that there are people in the landscape as well," explained WWF spokesman Phil Dickie. "The accent has been on growing rhino numbers and spreading rhino populations back into their former range, connecting rhino areas by talking to landowners and taking down fences."

"Rhino conservation in Africa is going from strength to strength," said Dr. Lieberman. "But poaching, illegal trade, and unplanned development remain significant problems across the rhinos' range and there is no room for complacency."

Evidence of ongoing problems surfaced in June 2007 when a report by the WWF wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC showing an increase in the volume of rhino horn entering illegal trade from Africa since 2000 was presented to CITES governments.

Poaching was found to be most severe in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 12 percent and 60 percent of their rhino populations respectively were illegally killed between 2003 and 2005.

"Rhino poaching and horn trade by organized criminals is an ongoing problem in Africa, requiring better cross-border collaboration between countries situated along smuggling routes, such as South Africa and Zimbabwe," said TRAFFIC's Simon Milledge, author of the report.

"To prevent horns leaking to the illegal market, rhino range states need to ensure secure management of horn stocks, whilst more stringent controls over legally-acquired rhino hunting trophies are needed in South Africa," Milledge said.

Although WWF has worked on rhino conservation throughout its 45 year history, the African Rhino Program has an integrated approach that has been successful. Working through field projects, it has combined action at every level from local communities to global policy.

One striking, if unanticipated, indicator of the success of the program is that land prices immediately increase in areas where rhinos are re-introduced through a range expansion program, WWF has found.

In celebration of a decade of rhino conservation, WWF honored six leaders as "rhino champions" at the Pongola Game Reserve. "These rhino champions have made extraordinary contributions to rhino conservation," Dr. Lieberman said.

The champions are:

• Emmanuel-Cebo Gumbi, known as Nathi Gumbi, director of the Somkhanda Game Reserve and member of the Gumbi royal family


• Kevin John Pretorius, regional director for the Phinda Game Reserve


• Clive Vivier, owner of the Leopold Mountain Game Reserve


• Manfred Kohrs, former chairman of the Pongola Game Reserve Association


• Dr. Jacques Flammand, project leader of the WWF/Ezemvelo KwaZulu Natal Wildlife Black Rhino Range Expansion Project


• Taye Teferi, conservation director of WWF's East Africa Regional Program


• Also honored, but in absentia, was Jackson Kamwi, senior rhino monitor at the Lowveld Conservancy Project in Zimbabwe

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