Despite lower poaching incidents of only 2.15% in 2024, overall rhino numbers declined by 6.7%. (Photo Archive)
Rhino poaching in Africa has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade, while white rhino numbers have dropped to near 20-year lows.
This mixed picture comes from a new report offering the most comprehensive assessment to date of rhino populations, poaching trends and horn trafficking in Africa and Asia.
Produced by the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups, it was commissioned by the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) for the 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) in Uzbekistan being held from 24 November to 5 December.
The report said in 2024, poaching was responsible for only 2.15% of Africa’s rhino losses, which represents the lowest recorded rate since 2011. This progress is attributed to enhanced site-based protection, intelligence-driven enforcement and stronger collaboration with local communities and governments.
But overall rhino numbers declined by 6.7%, down to an estimated 22 540 animals — a drop driven largely by steep losses among white rhinos.
The total includes 6 788 black rhinos, whose population grew by 5.2%, and 15 752 white rhinos, which declined by more than 11%, reaching their lowest numbers since 2007. Contributing factors include poaching pressure in certain areas, prolonged droughts and management limitations.
In total, 516 poaching incidents were recorded in Africa in 2024, down slightly from 540 in 2021, with more than 80% of them in South Africa. The country, home to the vast majority of the world’s rhinos, reported a significant spike in early 2025, when 91 animals were killed in the first quarter alone — many in privately managed reserves. Elsewhere, Chad reported the loss of two of its four reintroduced black rhinos.
In Asia, greater one-horned rhinos in India and Nepal have shown steady recovery, reaching an estimated 4 075 animals. In stark contrast, Indonesia’s Javan and Sumatran rhinos remain critically endangered, with only about 50 Javan rhinos and an estimated 34 to 47 Sumatran rhinos remaining in the wild.
Although the illegal trade in rhino horn has declined since peaking in 2019, it remains a serious threat. From 2021 to 2023, more than 750 seizures were recorded globally, involving an estimated 1.8 tonnes of horn — equivalent to 716 whole horns.
The largest seizures included 160kg by South African authorities, en route to Malaysia, and 139kg by Vietnam, originating from South Africa. The country accounted for 66% of global seizure weight and 90% among African range states.
Most seizures involving the country were made locally, with South Africa frequently cited as the origin point in trafficking networks, the report said.
Malaysia and Vietnam were identified as key destination countries, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which served as transit hubs. Angola also featured as a notable trade link. For the first time, a trafficking route from South Africa to Mongolia was detected in 2023
Although the number and total weight of horns seized have dropped by 81% and 77%, respectively, since their peak in 2019, this trend may reflect methodological changes rather than actual reductions in poaching. The widespread dehorning of nearly half the rhino population, for example, complicates direct year-on-year comparisons.
The report noted the “significant discrepancies” between the total rhino horn stockpile data reported to the Cites secretariat (36.2 tonnes) and that submitted to the African Rhino Specialist Group (85.1 tonnes).
This was “primarily due to underreporting by South Africa of privately held stocks and the absence of Namibian stockpile data from the Cites database shared for this analysis”.
South Africa holds 72% to 78% of the region’s horn stockpiles. Data from the African Rhino Specialist Group indicated that 48% of South Africa’s stockpiles were privately held, while Cites data summarised from 2021 to 2023 showed that 60% of the additions to South Africa’s stockpiles were made into privately held stockpiles.
The report notes, too, how a 2023 horn theft from a private stockpile was uncovered through open sources. Open source intelligence, or publicly available information, has helped uncover various aspects of rhino poaching, including the digital trail of trafficking networks. The study said the African Rhino Specialist Group reported the theft of 712 horns in 2024, “none of which were disclosed in the country’s official submissions to Cites”.
Hurdles in curbing rhino poaching and trafficking include corruption, limited resources, slow prosecutorial processes and the presence of organised, well-armed poaching and trafficking networks.
Effective rhino conservation requires political will, sustained funding, intelligence-led enforcement, improved inter-agency coordination and inclusive community-based approaches that provide tangible incentives for conservation, it added.