The African Rhino Programme (ARP) was launched to carry forward the unbroken record of WWF’s involvement in rhino conservation.
For more than 45 years, WWF has been involved in rhino conservation and management in Africa. Over the first three decades, WWF's support to rhino conservation was primarily directed towards large protected areas, which historically held large rhino populations in vast tracts of undisturbed land.
But more was needed as the resources available were too few and spread too thinly on the ground. This was made more critical because of high levels of poaching, spurred by commercial interests attached to the international rhino horn trade, poverty and inadequate capacity for rhino management among range state authorities.As a result, WWF adopted a more strategic and proactive approach to rhino conservation on behalf of a larger group of “flagship” species, including African rhinos. This led to the birth of the African Rhino Programme (ARP) in 1997.
The ARP is a continental programme of action driving WWF’s contribution to African rhinoceros conservation, guided by a Species Action Plan (SAP). Since its establishment in 1997, the WWF ARP has continued to provide a coordinated approach for WWF’s interventions and contribution to the conservation and management of the two African rhino species.
The ARP was launched to carry forward the unbroken record of WWF’s involvement in rhino conservation. The programme has coordinated and implemented WWF’s interventions with its partners based on lessons learned and from the long experience.
1997-2000 Species Action Plan (SAP)
The purpose of this plan was to provide active and effective support to government,private sector and local community partners in Africa for the in situ (under natural conditions,particularly within the original range of each subspecies) management and conservation of rhinos to achieve the ARP’s goals.
2001-2005 Species Action Plan (SAP)
This plan set the direction for the next phase of the programme,building on lessons from the 1997- 2000 SAP and offering a vision for future interventions.
2007-2011 Species Action Plan (SAP)
This WWF 2007-2011 Action Plan is WWF’s third species action plan for conservation and management of Africa’s black and white rhinos. The SAP defines the objectives and actions required to achieve the overall goal of the programme
