Africa has observed the historic burning of 120 tonnes of ivory on Saturday at the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, as part of an international wildlife summit hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta, to end poaching on the continent.
120 tonnes of ivory in flames in Kenya
Live from Nairobi, Kenya. The burning of Kenya's Ivory stockpile today is the largest in history. Around 105 tons o… pic.twitter.com/K0l9oB4xCG— 5Lire (@5Lirez) April 30, 2016
The stockpile of ivory set ablaze includes tusks seized from poachers and animals who died of natural causes representing 6700 elephants and worth about $30 million on the black market.
Leaders including Uganda president, Yoweri Museveni and Gabon’s President Ali Bongo among other African conservation experts were in Kenya for the event.
Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday launched the inaugural Giants Club Summit in the Central Kenyan town of Nanyuki to work towards the goal of developing a more cohesive, continent-wide response to the poaching of elephants as well as rhinos and the trade in illegal-wildlife trophies.
To lose our elephants would be to lose a key part of the heritage we hold in trust.We will not allow it #GiantsClub pic.twitter.com/3YwmlgADlF— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) April 29, 2016
“My Government has declared total war against poaching. We must mobilise friends and partners across the globe to join us in the fight,” Kenyatta said.
President Museveni and Ali Bongo also added their consent to the eradication of poaching through the use of strategic interventions including law enforcement.
According to wildlife conservationist group, Save the Elephants, 100,000 elephants were killed in Africa from 2010 to 2012.
Furthermore, over 30,000 elephants are poached in Africa annually due to high demand from Asia where they are sold for around 1,000 euros per kilogram.