Reference Material
| Namibia’s Conservation Paradigm – Use to Conserve versus Protect to Conserve By Dr Chris Brown – the then Executive Director of the Namibia Nature Foundation Whenever there are international discussions and negotiations on conservation issues, the different philosophy adopted in much of southern Africa stands out in stark contrast to that of many other parts of the world. Southern Africa’s conservation track record also stands out as being generally pretty successful and, in some cases, spectacularly so. Why don’t other countries and regions follow our example, and why do so many people, including many with genuine conservation interests at heart, oppose our approach? This short article attempts to answer these questions. |
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| Rhino Horn Trade, Poverty and Climate Change By Dr Chris Brown – Executive Co-director of the Namibian Institute for Sustainable Development When people in Africa think about land they think about agriculture. Yet Africa has no comparative advantage when it comes to farming. Agriculture is also the greatest cause of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation on the planet. Forms of land use that can outcompete farming in terms of job creation, income generation and foreign exchange earnings, and that at the same time protect biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes would be of incalculable benefit to human development and sustainable life-support systems. In dry-sub-humid, semi-arid to arid zones in Africa such a potential exists. |
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| Rhino Conservation in Namibia: A Framework for Private Sector Participation By Malan Lindeque, the then Permanent Secretary of the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism The international Rhino Conservation Problem – No serious international consideration has yet been given to alternative options closer to the conservation philosophy of Southern African countries – namely, legalising trade to undermine illegal trade and slash the value of stockpiles; meeting annual consumption by sustainable production of horn; promoting trade relationships with and sustainable use practices in consumer states; maximising sustainable economic benefits from rhino to support conservation costs and promote rural development; and increasing the number and diversity of stake-holders in rhino survival. |
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| Rhino Values By Michael Eustace There are only about 15 rhino shot in true rhino trophy hunts in SA every year. About 200 rhino are shot per annum, mainly by Vietnamese, in pseudo-trophy-hunts where the hunter is solely interested in the horn for on-selling into the Far Eastern market for horn. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to which SA is a Party, allows trophy hunting. However, it is clear to everybody including the CITES Management Authority in SA, that the majority of those horns are for the trade and not to hang on a wall. |
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| Saving African Rhinos: A Market Success Story By Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes In 1900, the southern white rhinoceros was the most endangered of the world’s five rhinoceros species. Less than 20 rhinos remained in a single reserve in South Africa. By 2010, white rhino numbers had climbed to more than 20,000, making it the most common rhino species on the planet. |
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| Legalise Rhino rhino horn to save the species By Dr David Walker – Ecologist, White River, Mpumalanga The way to save the rhino is to make it economically rewarding to produce and protect them. This can only be done by legalising and regulating trade in rhino horn. Removing the horn does not need to harm the rhino any more than shearing a sheep |
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| Rhino and Vacuna: A Parallel By Tanya Jacobsen – Malelane, Mpumalanga The rhino crisis is at the forefront of the conservation world and arguments, opinions, debates, outcries and valiant efforts to raise funds abound on the issue from every corner. However, very little is actually being done about the crisis and in the meantime, our rhinos pay the price for our inaction with their lives. Yet, a solution stares all of us in the face – a solution that has been tried and tested, researched and managed and that has delivered an endangered species back to a healthy and growing population after being on the edge of extinction. |
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| A Legal Trade in Rhino Horn: Hobson’s Choice By Rowan Martin This paper evaluates the two contrasting approaches using a population simulation model. A framework is set up for the More of the Same scenario which replicates the present illegal hunting regime and tests various levels of protection. This framework is then used to find the degree of reduction in the illegal hunting challenge which the legal trade in rhino horn (the Radical Change scenario) would be required to achieve to make the illegal hunting sustainable under a range of conditions. |
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