Horns on the Horizon
A review of commercial rhino horn trade developments in South Africa
South Africa is arguably the most important country for rhino conservation in Africa. It has the largest combined white and black rhino population on the continent, and it has also been the hardest hit by the rhino poaching crisis that has persisted for nearly two decades.
Through an examination of recent developments across multiple sectors – from government policy to private initiatives – EIA’s analysis reveals a systematic push to develop a domestic rhino horn industry and market in South Africa that, if successful, would severely undermine regional and global rhino conservation efforts, catastrophically increase demand for rhino horn, sabotage domestic and international enforcement efforts, and contravene policies of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
South Africa should abandon plans to build a domestic rhino horn market, and instead fully embrace collective efforts to implement the CITES ban on commercial rhino horn trade and prioritize eliminating the systemic drivers of rhino poaching and trafficking: organized crime, corruption, poor-governance, and demand.
