These “rhino bonds”, amounting to 150 million dollars, will be used to finance conservation campaigns.
Often opposed, financial interests and biodiversity will for once go hand in hand. To fund a campaign to protect black rhinos in South Africa and support local communities, the World Bank will issue $150 million in bonds, report The echoes. The money will notably go to the Addo Elephant National Parks and the Great Fish Nature Reserve, each of which will receive 152 million South African rand (9.5 million euros).
Victims of poaching for its horn and the destruction of its environment, this species has seen its population drop sharply, from 65,000 in the 1970s to just 2,600 today, according to World Bank data.
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“It took more than five years of work at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)to fully design this financial instrument, explained in a press release Dr. Andrew Terry, director of conservation of the ZSL. It must be said that theserhino leapsdo not work like standard bonds. Buyers will not receive interest and are not even certain of winning anything. Indeed, a bonus at maturity may be paid (of a maximum amount of 13.76 million dollars after five years), but on condition that the campaign to preserve the species is a success. If the black rhino population stagnates or declines, no payment will occur.