Credit: Tristan Vince
Engaging communities
It takes more than high security and habitat protection to ensure that rhino populations thrive.
Local community support is essential if we are to save the rhino. Rural villages around park borders are precisely the areas from which the criminals involved in trafficking wildlife products try to recruit people to assist them. That is why we fund conservation education programmes that are directly protecting rhino populations.
We want to make sure that wildlife benefits everyone. We champion community-led conservation, so people living near rhinos are inspired to protect wildlife and feel a sense of ownership for their natural heritage.
In 2020-21, we helped reach
2,000
students at school, and many more adults in community groups through the Lolesha Luangwa initiative.
Working with the people on the ground in local communities, we can understand much more about rhinos and how to best protect them. We have specific programmes, such as Lolesha Luangwa in Zambia, that does exactly that, gaining insight and improving our methods to make rhinos even safer while encouraging future generations to continue to safeguard their precious rhinos.
"I think the programme really helps us achieve something we can’t through law enforcement or anti-poaching practices. Kids absorb messages easily and then pass this learning onto other children and adults. They are telling people that rhinos are beautiful, that black rhinos are incredible, that black rhinos need saving and that you shouldn’t poach because it’s bad for the ecosystem."
Claire Lewis, Technical Advisor to the North Luangwa Conservation Programme about the Lolesha Luangwa initiative
Where we work
Find out more about our projects by clicking on the green icons below.
Select a marker on the map below or choose from this list:
Protecting Rhinos
Reducing Illegal Horn Trade
Involving Communities
Bringing Experts Together
