Why understanding demand for rhino horn will make or break their survival
Researchers say campaigns aimed at consumers will help curb poaching, writes Tony Carnie
Security researchers say the emphasis on arresting poachers and beefing up protection for SA’s rhinos is unlikely to succeed without stronger, parallel efforts to research the demand for horn products in China and Vietnam. Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researchers Ciara Aucoin and Sumien Deetlefs write in a new policy briefing on transnational organised crime that too little is being done to understand or reduce the demand for rhino horn in East Asia. The researchers, who are based in Pretoria, advocate for a more thorough, market-based approach to tackling the organised transnational syndicates that coordinate the poaching and trafficking of rhino horns. This market-based approach would place more emphasis on the forces of supply and demand. The current emphasis on curbing the domestic supply of rhino horns was doomed to become "an endless and costly endeavour in the face of growing demand", the researchers write in a policy briefing published by ENACT, a joint initiative by...
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