Civil unrest and the poaching of rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park, India

Global lessons from successful rhinoceros conservation in Nepal

“…; WWF ). In India, 4 key protected areas (Manas, Orang, Pobitora, and Gorumara) had zero poaching in 2015, and poaching in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, home to over 2401 individuals, also dropped to a historic low in 2015 (Lopes ; Das et al. ; Esterman ; WWF ).…”

“…Numbering only 200 individuals in the late 19th century, the combined Indian and Nepalese population of this species has increased 17-fold (Talukdar et al 2008;Subedi et al 2014;WWF 2016a). In India, 4 key protected areas (Manas, Orang, Pobitora, and Gorumara) had zero poaching in 2015, and poaching in Kaziranga National Park, Assam, home to over 2401 individuals, also dropped to a historic low in 2015 (Lopes 2014;Das et al 2015;Esterman 2016;WWF 2016b). Rhinoceros conservation has been particularly successful in Nepal, where in 2016 the government announced its fourth year of zero poaching (Acharya 2016) and a 21% increase in the population (from 534 in 2011 to 645 in 2015) (DNPWC 2015).…”

Transnational links in rhino poaching and the black‐market price of rhino horns

“…For instance, Poudyal et al . () and Lopes () find significant effects of sociopolitical unrest on increasing rhino poaching in the Chitwan Park in Nepal and the Kaziranga Park in India. They account for demand by using East Asian income in their regressions.…”

“…A number of studies and reports have highlighted reasons behind the increase in rhino poaching in South Africa or India (Baura and Talukdar ; Milliken and Shaw ; Hübschle et al . ); however, not much attention has been paid to the similarity of rhino poaching patterns between the major rhino range states of South Africa and India (Lopes ). Conservation organizations allude to the rhino poaching crisis spreading from South Africa to India (WWF ).…”

“…). Apart from anecdotal evidence pointing to a link between South African and Indian rhino poaching while examining the relationship between sociopolitical unrest and rhino poaching in India, Lopes () assumes South African rhino poaching to be an indicator for that in India. We rigorously confirm the validity of that assumption by developing an economic model of collusion and corroborating it with empirics.…”