The rhino population in South Africa was on the brink of extinction in the early 1960s. By the end of 2007, South Africa had conserved 35% of Africa’s black rhino and 93% of the continent’s white rhino. This is indeed a good story to tell about our 20 years of freedom and democracy.

Challenges faced by the government in regards to rhino poaching

Poaching remains the biggest threat to South Africa’s rhino. In our case, there has been an alarming increase in rhino poaching countrywide. It is a crime that is highly organised to address the greed of poachers, their syndicate bosses and consumers ready to show off their ability to access such a commodity.

Our natural and cultural heritage is a significant contributor to our economy and important for sustainable development. The loss of rhino or other animals, will result in impacts on not only the environment, but also on the economy and society development.

The success that government has had in combating rhino poaching

South Africa has a successful conservation track record for this species. Government is aware that poaching is part of a multi-billion dollar worldwide illicit wildlife trade, which continues to present a global challenge. Addressing this scourge is not simple and there is no single solution. South Africa has implemented holistic and integrated responses involving all relevant Government Departments, international organisations and stakeholders to combat rhino poaching.

Integrated interventions include compulsory contributions; increasing rhino numbers; new interventions; long-term sustainable measures; and international collaboration. Rhino poaching and other wildlife crimes were elevated to the National Joints Security Committee (NATJOINTS). This assisted in advancing the implementation of the Cabinet-approved National Strategy for the Safety and Security of Rhinoceros Populations and Horn Stocks in South Africa, which calls for an integrated effort to put into action interventions to combat rhino poaching.

The Government has introduced a number of legislative and policy amendments to address rhino poaching. A national moratorium on the trade of individual rhinoceros horns and any derivatives or products thereof within South Africa was introduced in 2009, and will remain in place until further notice.

The publication and implementation of the Norms and Standards for the marking of rhinoceros horn and for the hunting of white rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes in 2009 have put in place stricter controls for the issuing of rhino hunting permits, hunting of rhino and transportation of the horn. The provisions of these norms and standards were revised in 2012, and now also apply to the hunting of black rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes.

The anti-poaching ability of the Kruger National Park, which bears the brunt of rhino poaching, has been enhanced through increasing the number of rangers. This has resulted in a 42% decrease in incursions by poachers into the Kruger National Park since January 2014.

An amount of R103 million for the period of 2014/15 to 2016/17 has been allocated to SANParks for the purpose of combating rhino poaching. This is in addition to other financial assistance that SANParks has and continues to receive from private sector organizations through its fundraising initiatives.

The South African government would like to give an assurance that rhino poaching is being addressed at multiple levels, and that every effort is being made to effectively address rhino poaching not only in South Africa, but at an international level as well.

Last year saw the implementation of the Biodiversity Management Plan for black rhino in South Africa 2011-2020 which was gazetted in January 2013. In July 2013, the National Environmental Management Laws First Amendment Act (NEMLA) was also signed into law. This has since strengthened regulatory and enforcement provisions to prevent abuse of the hunting permitting system and includes provisions to defer, suspend and cancel permits under certain circumstances.

What kind of additional interventions or measures has the government put in place to help combat rhino poaching?

Cabinet recently approved an integrated strategic management approach of rhinoceros in South Africa. This approach is aimed at reducing the threat to rhino and the biological management of the species. The integrated interventions adopted by Cabinet are:

Compulsory interventions - include pro-active anti-poaching initiatives, the implementation and improvement of actionable intelligence as well as the introduction of responsive legislation and policy amendments to address rhino poaching. A creation of an Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) in the Kruger National Park has reduced the threat to rhinos as several technologically advanced methods are being explored to help anti-poaching teams to intensively reinforce the protection of rhinos.

In other parts of the Kruger National Park, and in national parks and protected areas nationwide, cooperative and complementary traditional anti-poaching activities help curb poaching. Among the actions taken, has been the introduction of forensic technology, including DNA analysis, in the judicial process to support the successful prosecution of alleged wildlife criminals.

Increase rhino numbers - the biological management of rhino is the key focus of the Integrated Strategic Management approach. This includes ecological management of rhino habitat, such as water distribution and fire regimes, that are fundamental to the ecological management of protected areas.

An additional action is the translocation of rhino from areas where rhinos are threatened (e.g. eastern boundary of Kruger National Park), as well as areas where environmental conditions and high rhino densities restrict breeding and increase mortalities.Translocated rhinos contribute to the creation of alternative strongholds, which are areas where rhinos can be cost-effectively protected while applying conservation husbandry to maximize population growth.

Long-term sustainable measures - to ensure the future survival of this key species, include the creation of economic alternatives for communities taking into account the government’s sustainable utilisation policy and facilitating rhino ownership.Communities who are located next to protected areas bear the brunt of exploitation from where crime syndicates recruit potential poachers. Providing alternative incentives will encourage the recognition of all the values natural resources, including rhino. In short, the aim is to make a live rhino more valuable to communities than a dead rhino.

International and national collaboration and cooperation - Interventions on international collaboration will further strengthen efforts to address not only rhino poaching, but illegal wildlife trade in general. Collaboration between range, transit and consumer States is therefore essential to address this challenge effectively. Several Memoranda of Understanding have already been concluded by the Department of Environmental Affairs. There is, however, a need to accelerate co-operation with key identified countries.

At an international level, South Africa and Mozambique have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Biodiversity Conservation and Management in April 2014. The signing of the agreement between the two countries is the third Biodiversity Management MoU to be entered into by South Africa. The other two MoUs signed were with Vietnam in 2012 and the People’s Republic of China in 2013.

The MoUs highlight areas of cooperation such biodiversity law enforcement; joint technology innovation, development and enhancement, as well as wildlife trade, and community development through biodiversity economy. Thus far cross-border security operations to pursue and arrest rhino poachers are currently under discussion, as they are not covered in our MoUs. Such are handled to by police and the Security Cluster.Last year Cabinet directed we investigate the desirability and feasibility of a proposal to legalise the trade in rhino horn as a potential intervention in the run up to the 17th Conference of Parties to CITES in 2016.

There is as yet no decision to draft such a proposal. The Government would like to urge all stakeholders to work together in ensuring that whatever position we adopt at CITES in 2016, is well researched, adheres to sustainable utilisation principles, and will contribute to the conservation of the species.

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