The South Africa – Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus (PDF ... - WWF

White Rhino.
tim jacKSon/africa geographic
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An effort of this dimension is only possible with the support and backing of many individuals.
First and foremost, for the African component of this report, we would like to gratefully
acknowledge the WWF Species Programme and its WWF African Rhino Programme, as well
as the Mackenzie Foundation, for supporting the initial research to document the illegal
trade in rhino horn at a time when new trade dynamics were rapidly emerging and seriously
threatening Africa’s rhino populations. Special thanks are due to WWF’s Dr Joseph Okori, Dr Colman
O’Criodain and Lis McLellan, and the Mackenzie Foundation’s Jane Paumgarten, for their unstinting
support throughout this undertaking. Funding for research in Viet Nam was provided by WWF-
Netherlands through the Asia Wildlife Trade Initiative managed by the TRAFFIC programme in
Southeast Asia. The Mazda Wildlife Fund and WWF-South Africa are acknowledged for their ongoing
support to the TRAFFIC programme in South Africa. The Endangered Wildlife Trust is also acknowledged,
especially Rynette Coetzee, for supporting this project and providing valuable information on
rhino horn thefts and seizures, as well as rhino crime arrests and prosecutions in South Africa. The
Rufford Foundation is gratefully acknowledged for its support to TRAFFIC during the final review stages
of this report.
Three individuals played hugely important ancillary roles in this project: Dr Richard H. Emslie of the
IUCN/SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, Dr Russell D. Taylor of WWF and Chris Turton, formerly of
TRAFFIC’s Viet Nam Office. These colleagues provided invaluable content for this report at various stages
of its development and this project would not have been possible without their assistance. We gratefully
salute: Richard for sharing so much knowledge, information and data on the South African rhino
story to which he personally is such an integral force and inspiration; Russell for digging out and
ground-truthing so much on the South African law enforcement front as well as many other probing
insights when the crisis first emerged; and Chris for his valiant early attempt to unravel the forces of
consumer demand in Viet Nam, a new Asian market exerting profound consequences on the African
continent.
Within Africa, thanks are also due to many other individuals who contributed valuable information,
data and understanding at different stages in this report, including Jacko Ackermann, Keryn Adcock,
Jeremy Anderson, Natasha Anderson, Juan de Beer, Werner Boing, Dirk Boshoff, Magdel Boshoff, Herb
Bourn, Kirsty Brebner, Peter Butland, Thea Carroll, Faan Coetzee, Rynette Coetzee, Roger Collinson,
Tony Conway, Elise Daffue, Ruben de Kock, Kobus du Toit, Raoul du Toit, Rubin Els, Michael Eustace,
Tony Ferrar, Antoinette Ferreira, Yolan Friedmann, Jack Greef, Bryan Haverman, Sean Hensman, Peter
Hitchins, Markus Hofmeyer, Rusty Hustler, Pelham Jones, Johan Jooste, Adri Kitshoff, Mike Knight,
Peter Lindsey, Amanda Lucey, Ken Maggs, Sandy MacDonald, Sonja Meintjes, David Newton, Paul
Phelan, Jaap Pienaar, Rod Potter, Jana Pretorius, Julian Rademeyer, Mario Scholtz, Sandra Snelling,
Stoney Steenkamp, Mpho Tjiane, Marilé van Heerden, Ben van Rensburg and Heather Wildi. Whilst we
are grateful to all of these individuals, Dr Mike Knight, Chairman of the IUCN/SSC African Rhino
Specialist Group, is to be specially commended and gratefully acknowledged for sharing his unlimited
knowledge and wealth of information with us.
Within Asia, field research and information gathering in Viet Nam was assisted by Naomi Doak, Doug
Hendrie, Tom Osborn, Scott Roberton and Ha Tom. We also thank Hannah Beech of TIME magazine
and Kelly Buzby of “Dan Rather Reports” news programme for sharing their research on the internal
Vietnamese market.
We would also like to express gratitude to the team at Africa Geographic, led by Sarah Borchert and Cindy
Armstrong, for their superb design and layout talents and Andre Schild for the printing process. Candice
Bate of WWF-Zimbabwe Country Office is also thanked for producing some of the graphics for this
report. We always benefit from the skillful editing and improvements that result from the review process
under the direction of the very talented Julie Gray at TRAFFIC. In this regard, thanks are also due to
Steven Broad, Richard Thomas and Sabri Zain of TRAFFIC; David Newton of TRAFFIC in East/Southern
Africa; William Schaedla, Naomi Doak, Chris Shepherd and Tom Osborn (formerly) of TRAFFIC in
Southeast Asia; and Richard Emslie and Mike Knight of the IUCN/SSC African Rhino Specialist Group for
their efforts in reviewing this manuscript and contributing valuable comments and insights.
TRAFFIC
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