Population and poaching of African rhinos across African range states

Abstract

Evidence on Demand was requested by DFID to carry out a rapid desk-based review of numbers and poaching rates of African rhinos in Africa and in the 4 range-states: Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 2008, rhino poaching peaked in Zimbabwe and started to escalate in the major range state South Africa. This short report provides data in response to the following questions: (1) What is the trend in rhino species numbers 2008- 2012? (2) What is the trend in poaching rates 2008-2013 to date? This data will be used to inform the establishment of a baseline against which progress can be made by the UK Government in addressing the complexity of challenges within, and arising from, the illegal wildlife trade. Findings are presented in the brief narrative. This report has been produced by Practical Action Consulting and Dr Richard Emslie for Evidence on Demand with the assistance of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) contracted through the Climate, Environment, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Professional Evidence and Applied Knowledge Services (CEIL PEAKS) programme, jointly managed by HTSPE Limited and IMC Worldwide Limited