In a first, World Bank sells ‘rhino bonds’ to save endangered animal

JOHANNESBURG: For the first time, the World Bank has raised $150 million by selling `rhino’ bonds to save endangered `Black Rhinoceros’.

The five-year ‘rhino bond’ will pay investors returns based on the rate of growth of black rhino populations at South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) and the Great Fish River Nature Reserve (GFRNR), the bank said.

After five years, investors would get a return of between 3.7% and 9.2% if the population increases. They would get no return if there is no change in the black rhino population, it added.

Later, large-scale conservation efforts were taken up which led to their increase to between 5,000 and 5,500, according to the `Save The Rhino’ website.

South Africa accounts for approximately half of the total black rhino population on the continent, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a global non-governmental organization said.

“The pay-for-success financial structure protects an endangered species and strengthens South Africa’s conservation efforts by leveraging the World Bank’s infrastructure and track record in capital markets,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in the state