ABSTRACT
At both the deep ecological and anthropocentric level, organisations have a clear role to play in protecting the environment. For extinction accounting to be emancipatory, it needs to explain how extinction prevention policy translates into specific actions to reverse extinction trends and the results of any conservation or environmental initiatives on rates of species loss. The principle that a complete account of extinction includes detailed reporting on context; actions taken to address the threat of extinction and post-implementation review of conservation initiatives are equally relevant in the public sector. While the risk of extinction of the rhinoceros is dealt with explicitly, the 2015 and 2016 annual reports are based on the assumption that the need to protect biodiversity, backed by legal mandate to do so, is sufficient. SANParks is addressing poaching in multiple locations and is relying on a combination of long-term policy reform focused on the wildlife economy, and specific interventions to mitigate the risk of extinction.
