Wildlife Conservation Bond ("Rhino Bond") — Addo & Great Fish River Reserves, South Africa

In March 2022, the World Bank issued a five-year, $150 million Sustainable Development Bond — the "Wildlife Conservation Bond" or "Rhino Bond" — sold at 94.8% of its nominal aggregate amount.

Fund anti-poaching and habitat protection at Addo Elephant National Park and Great Fish River Nature Reserve through outcome-linked conservation finance, with investor returns contingent on measured black rhino population growth rather than conventional coupons.

Bond proceeds fund roughly ZAR 152 million (about $10 million) in "Conservation Investment Payments" to South African National Parks (SANParks) and the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), which manage anti-poaching and habitat protection at the two reserves. Population counts are independently verified by the Zoological Society of London, with overall programme performance assessed by Conservation Alpha. At maturity (31 March 2027) a Global Environment Facility results-based grant will pay investors a "Conservation Success Payment" of up to $13.8 million, scaled to the actual black rhino population growth rate achieved.

As of this evaluation, the bond has not yet matured, so no population-growth outcome or investor payment has been realised or verified — all figures here describe the bond's structuring, not a delivered result. It is a species-outcome bond rather than a tradeable biodiversity credit. The two reserves already had comparatively strong anti-poaching track records before the bond (Great Fish River Reserve had not lost a rhino to poaching beforehand), raising a selection-bias question about how much of any future success is attributable to the instrument itself.