Wildlife Conservation Bond Operation

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The operation is focused on addressing major challenges for financing conservation and proposes an innovative financing model to unlock and direct private finance for the conservation of the black rhino in South Africa. The operation aims to catalyze the world’s first Wildlife Conservation Bond (WCB) that links the coupon payments of an institutional SDG-related bond issuance to conservation performance. This innovative transaction enables private/institutional bond investors to participate in a market which has historically been focused on donors and philanthropic investors that look beyond typical financial rates of return to guide investment decisions. The WCB will support two priority sites for rhino conservation: Addo Elephant National Park and Great Fish River Nature Reserve. Project investments will be used to enhance management of these protected areas to secure and increase black rhino populations, and increase benefits realized by local communities. Project funding will be directed to these two project sites to implement conservation and adaptive management activities that seek to maximize net rhino growth rates over five years.