Today's vote on the proposal from Namibia to move their white rhinos from Appendix I to Appendix II has been approved by a majority of the party members at CITES.
This change relates only to the sale of live animals which must be kept within the natural and historic range of southern and northern subspecies of white rhinos in Africa.
In response, World Wildlife Fund released the following statement from Jo Shaw, African Rhino Lead, WWF-South Africa:
"WWF welcomes the outcome of this vote to be formally endorsed in plenary on November 24 and 25th. This decision will incentivize rhino conservation in Namibia, a country which has been successful in protecting its rhino populations and creating multi-agency law enforcement teams to address the illegal trafficking of rhino horn. It also makes more rhinos available for range expansion which is a proven conservation tool for the recovery of both white and black rhino numbers across the continent."
