by Ntandoyenkosi Ncube
JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has made encouraging progress in reducing rhino poaching, but shifting criminal networks, mounting environmental pressures and the high cost of conservation continue to threaten the species' long-term survival, a conservation expert has said ahead of World Rhino Day, which falls on Sept. 22 annually.
"Over the next decade, we need to move from managing an ongoing crisis to rebuilding secure, growing and well-distributed rhino populations," Donovan Jooste, project manager of African Parks' Rhino Rewild Initiative, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
It requires coordinated action, from stronger protection and intelligence against organized crime to sound habitat management and cooperation across borders, he stressed.
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization which currently manages 24 protected areas in 13 countries covering over 20 million hectares.
South Africa, home to the world's largest rhino population, has seen its rhino numbers decline from 20,711 in 2010 to 14,389 in 2024, according to the country's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
"South Africa remains central to the future of Africa's rhino," Jooste said, noting that the country recorded 352 rhinos killed by poachers in 2025, down 16 percent from 420 in 2024.
However, he cautioned that the general improvement masked the stark differences between major conservation areas.
At Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province, poaching losses fell from 198 in 2024 to 63 in 2025, while Kruger National Park saw losses nearly double from 88 to 175 over the same period.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, established in 1895, is known for modern white rhino conservation. Its pioneering "Operation Rhino" in the 1960s helped save the southern white rhino from near extinction by relocating animals to establish populations elsewhere in Africa.
Jooste said that the park's recent anti-poaching gains are therefore particularly significant for a conservation area that has played a historic role in the species' recovery.
Yet, comparing the poaching figures at the two national parks, he said the contrasting trends showed that "organized criminal networks are mobile, adaptive and quick to exploit weaknesses," stressing that rhino conservation could not be tackled reserve by reserve.
The expert attributed the improvement at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi to a combination of strategic dehorning, stronger protection, better detection technology, institutional integrity measures and closer cooperation between conservation partners and rhino owners.
"No single intervention will solve the problem," he said, calling for layered protection combining well-supported rangers, appropriate dehorning, technology, intelligence gathering, rapid operational responses and effective criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Beyond poaching, Jooste warned that habitat loss, climate change and financial pressures posed additional challenges to the long-term survival of rhino populations.
"The loss and fragmentation of suitable land can isolate populations, limiting natural movement, breeding opportunities and effective genetic management," he said.
Drought, changing rainfall patterns, declining water availability and deteriorating grazing conditions could also affect rhino health and reproduction, as well as the number of animals a landscape could sustain, the expert said.
Meanwhile, Jooste said that the high cost of conservation placed considerable pressure on both public and private custodians, making sustainable financing essential to maintaining long-term protection.
Noting that protecting South Africa's iconic species was not simply about guarding individual animals, he said it was about securing functioning landscapes, managing populations effectively, and building a sustainable economic and institutional base for conservation.
Looking ahead, Jooste emphasized the need to establish and reinforce viable rhino populations across suitable landscapes in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, reducing the risks associated with concentrating large numbers of animals in a limited number of locations.
According to him, African Parks is working with governments, communities and conservation partners through its Rhino Rewild Initiative to return 2,000 southern white rhinos to suitable habitats over 10 years. By the end of 2025, 632 had been rewilded into 16 recipient areas.
Rhino conservation is an African responsibility and a global one, Jooste said. "Its long-term success will depend on durable partnerships, predictable financing and ensuring that the people living closest to these animals share in the value created by their survival."■
