There is a tough road ahead for wild rhino populations, but growing support among country governments and the international community, as well as recent scientific developments, provides a hopeful future for this species.
The private sector has been a key partner in African rhino conservation. Landowners offered their farms and reserves as safe havens for black and white rhinos and tourism operators brought in much-needed local employment and revenues to rhino sites. Local communities in northwestern Namibia, organized in communal conservancies, protect free-ranging black rhinos on their traditional lands with immense success: Over the past two years, zero rhinos were poached in these vast areas.
“The critical role of local communities – as traditional custodians of their lands and its wildlife – cannot be overstated. The example of the Communal conservancies in Namibia, where local communities have managed to successfully live with – and create livelihood opportunities from – living with wildlife, gives hope for the long term survival of the largest free-roaming Black rhino population in Africa,” says Bas Huijbregts, director of African Species Conservation at WWF-US. “It’s also is a gold standard for community-based natural resource management that can be replicated for other species and in other countries across the continent,”
WWF is committed to collaborating with NGOs, governments, and communities to protect current rhino populations and establish new populations.
