NAIROBI, April 29 (ANA) – Kenya is set to destroy a massive stockpile of ivory and rhino horn on Saturday.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to preside over the destruction of what is billed as the largest stockpile of ivory and rhino horn at the Nairobi National Park.
Altogether 105 tons of ivory and 1.35 tons of rhino horn will be set alight at the ceremony to be attended by world leaders, philanthropists, and conservationists.
This will be Kenya’s largest destruction of stockpiled ivory and rhino horn and will send a message on the country’s firm stand against wildlife poaching, which threatens the existence of the remaining elephant population.
Prior to the ivory destruction, Kenyatta hosted the first ever “Giants Club” summit on Friday. The summit is a unique gathering of African heads of state, corporate leaders, philanthropists, and scientists dedicated to ending the illegal killing of elephants and safeguarding their habitats forever.
The summit ran from Thursday April 28 and ends on Saturday April 30.
Quoted on the website of the Giants Club, founder and CEO of Space for Giants – the international conservation charity that helped form the Giants Club – Max Graham, said: “That is what is special about The Giants Club and The Giants Club summit. We can put in one place all the people who need to be together really to accelerate progress on elephant protection – Africa’s leaders, conservationists, philanthropists, and investors, and people with the influence to bring others to our side.”
Presidents Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda attended the summit, while presidents Idriss Déby of Chad and John Magufuli of Tanzania sent high-level delegations.
Summit discussions revolve around three key themes. First, showing that African countries know what works in frontline conservation protection and the successful prosecution of poachers.
Second, illustrating how to draw on the goodwill of individuals with global influence to connect ideas and build support to expand these proven conservation interventions, and third, to present smart new ways of paying to safeguard elephants and their habitats after poaching has been eradicated.
In early March, Space for Giants was awarded funding from the UK government’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund for a project to reduce the illegal killing of endangered wildlife, particularly elephants and rhino in Kenya, by curbing the supply side of the illegal trade.
Kenya is one of three African countries identified by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) as being of greatest concern with regards to the trafficking of ivory out of Africa, a Giants Club statement said.
Tens of thousands of elephants and hundreds of rhino are killed in Africa every year due to the illegal wildlife trade.
– African News Agency (ANA)
