Since 2012 the annual Rhino Conservation Awards have served to recognise theremarkable individuals and organisationsthat protect Africa’s rhino population. This year, Carl Zeiss Sports Optics GmbHof the ZEISS Group has undertaken to sponsor the Awards.

“Our products are made for the observation of nature’s miracles, therefore it is our natural interest to conserve those miracles,” says Dr Winfried Scherle, Chief Executive Officer of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics. Environmental responsibility is of key importance and ZEISS has nurtured this as a tradition within the Group. “As a company operating under the umbrella of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, the ZEISS Group has been implementing social responsibility principles for over 125 years.”

The ZEISS Group has indicated its intention to maintain its sponsorship of the Awards. “We are very excited about our future association with the Awards,” says Dr Simone Zaha, Head of Marketing at Carl Zeiss Sports Optics GmbH. While the South African ZEISS office has been involved informally in rhino conservation for the last three to four years, the Group as a whole has now made the decision to take structured action against poaching, committing to play an active role in Rhino Conservation. “It is hoped that we can assist in creating more awareness about the plight of the rhino on a regional and global scale!”

Carl Zeiss joins the existing sponsor, Ms Xiaoyang Yu, Founder Partner of China New Enterprise Investment (CNEI), a China focused growth capital fund, and one of the originators of the Awards. Founder of the Awards, Dr Larry Hansen, humbly thanks the ZEISS Group for its support, adding that its international footprint will dramatically improve the reach of the Awards as nature conservation is a global issue. “Protecting species and their natural environments must become a universal goal.”