00:01 I'm Esther van der Merwe.
00:03 I'm a black rhino monitoring technician in Addo Elephant National Park.
00:07 Rhinos are a very iconic species.
00:10 They help with nutrient recycling within the ecosystems.
00:14 They also open up areas for smaller animals to also be able to get in there.
00:18 They help with seed dispersals.
00:20 They really are very valuable to the ecosystem.
00:30 For me,
00:30 rhino monitoring is a passion.
00:33 It's not just a job.
00:34 I am intrigued by their social structures,
00:37 by the way they interact with each other,
00:39 by the way they conduct themselves in the field.
00:41 So you cannot just go in and make
00:43 a change without understanding a black rhino population.
00:47 It is extremely important to know first what's happening on
00:50 the ground before you make any decisions for conservation purposes.
01:02 The wildlife Conservation bond has enabled us to do our jobs at
01:05 an extremely high level by giving us the funds that is needed
01:09 for aerial monitoring,
01:11 the funds that's needed for camera trapping,
01:13 and for us to be able to be out in the field and do this 24/7,
01:18 to look at them,
01:18 to know exactly what's happening in our population.
01:22 From the Addo Elephant National Park Conservation team,
01:24 we'd like to say a big thank you to the Wildlife Conservation Bond,
01:28 Noveen and all the investors.
01:30 You've enabled us to save a species and to make
01:33 sure that that species is there for future generations.
01:36 Thank you very much for that.
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The Wildlife Conservation Bond (WCB), is a first-of-its-kind, outcome-based, financial instrument that channels investments to achieve conservation outcomes – measured in this case by an increase in the population of the endangered black rhino populations in South Africa.
In this video, meet Ester van der Merwe, a Black Rhino Monitoring Technician at one of the project sites. She shares how the five-year $150 million Sustainable Development Bond also known as the “Rhino Bond” contributes to protecting the rhino, which is an "umbrella species". This in turn protects other species and ecosystems, and provides environmental and social benefits to people and communities.