6-Jun-08 1:00 PM CST

South Africa: Govt to Step Up Fight Against Rhino Horn Poaching

As trading in illegal rhino horns is on the increase in South Africa, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk believes government needs to stringently enforce legislation.

"Although we have had tremendous successes in protecting and expanding our conservation areas, over the past two years there has been a dramatic increase in the illegal trade of rhino horn and in the hunting of white rhino.

"Both Black and White rhino are listed as threatened or protected species and permits are required to perform a restricted activity," said the minister on Thursday, delivering his Budget Vote speech to the National Council of Provinces.

He said there could be no question that without enforcement of compliance, environmental legislation was worth no more than the paper on which it's written.

It was highlighted that it was World Environment Day and that it was being celebrated under the slogan "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy."

Mr van Schalkwyk said the trade in rhino and their product was regulated internationally to ensure sustainable utilisation of the species, and that the indiscriminate illegal trade in rhino is directly linked to organised crime.

About 27 white rhino have been poached in the Kruger National Park over the last two years and there has been a definite increase in incidents in other parts of the country, he said.

"SANParks [South African National Parks] has therefore stepped up the protection of high value herbivores such as rhino, buffalo and elephant in our parks.

"During the course of investigating rhino horn deals, it has been established that prospective hunters applied for permits to hunt rhino in various provinces. Permits for these hunts were subsequently issued.

"On closer investigation it was determined that some of these hunts never took place and the relevant authorities were never informed.

"This allowed the permit holder to legally export illegally obtained individual horn as hunting trophies," said the minister.

Illegal poaching of white rhino was occurring because the relevant permit issuing authorities were not properly supervising all rhino hunts.

In some provinces, he said, rhino are still on exemption permits, meaning that the landowner does not require an individual permit for the hunting of the rhino.

With regard to South Africa's national parks, he mentioned the department has committed significant financial resources towards the expansion of formal protected areas.

As a result of such financial backing, there are now 22 national parks with a combined formal conservation areas of about four million hectares.

Also, since 2004 the department has declared four new Marine Protected Areas, increasing the total coastline under some form of protection to 20 percent.

Through environmental education programmes SANParks continues to build environmentally responsible youth.

Last year, it educated some 110 000 learners through the Environmental Interpretation Education programme.