A disappearing drylands icon? White rhinoceros conservation and the need for public-private partnerships

摘要

Reaching a 'tipping point' is probably an overuse phrase in the context of biodiversity conservation, running the risk of diluting its impact. Nonetheless, having recently returned from a wildlife reserve in South Africa's Bush-veld, I believe that the global population of southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum, Figure 1) is rapidly approaching such a juncture. South Africa's dryland habitats have been integral in helping create one of the nations most lauded conservation success stories. In the space of a hundred years, South Africa has been pivotal in recovering the global population of white rhino from a historical low of just one population comprising less than 50 breeding individuals by the end of the nineteenth century (Emslie and Brooks 2002), to the most recent global population estimate of 20,404 individuals, of which 83% are found within South Africa's borders (Emslie 2013). However, concurrent with this huge conservation success has been an exponential increase in the numbers of rhino illegally poached since the millennium (Figure 2), fuelled by rapidly increased demand from an increasingly affluent Southeast Asian market (Milliken and Shaw 2012). By the end of 2013, over 1000 rhino had been poached in that year alone; an average of three individuals per day. By 17 April 2014, the South Africa Department for Environmental Affairs had recorded a total of 294 for this year (Figure 2), indicating there will be broadly comparable numbers of rhino poached this year too. Predictive modelling-based approaches suggest, subject to sustained poaching at these levels, the single largest remaining population of white rhino in Kruger National Park will be in detectable decline by 2016 (Ferreira, Botha, Emmett 2012). All this goes on despite the species being listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1977, effectively banning all international trade in rhino and their derivative products.