Elephant ivory poaching in Africa: Kenya's fight
Environment — di Alessia de Luca Tupputi
The giants' club meets in Kenya to counter the poaching and ivory trafficking that is threatening the survival of African elephants.
Elephant ivory poaching in Africa: Kenya's fight
The giants' club meets in Kenya to counter the poaching and ivory trafficking that is threatening the survival of African elephants.
To save African elephants from poaching and the threat of extinction, it is necessary to preserve the ecosystem, the tourism industry and an important part of the continent's shared heritage: this is why the Giants club, made up of various African governments, non-governmental organisations working in defence of the environment, businesspeople and zoologists, is gathering these days in Nanyuki, Kenya.
The ivory trade means death
"Ivory means death. Death for our elephants, for a precious heritage that God has given to the African continent. Death for our tourism sector," declared Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in his opening address at the summit. "As if that were not enough, the illegal ivory trade translates into illicit funding for armed groups in various parts of Africa. For this reason too, we must join forces and do everything in our power to stop the poaching and smuggling of this white gold."
100 tonnes of ivory burned
In a gesture of historic significance, at the close of the summit on Saturday, more than 100 tonnes of ivory will be set alight. This amounts to roughly one fifth of the stocks of the precious material seized worldwide, equivalent to 100 million dollars at market value. The pyre — the largest ever assembled for a ceremony of this kind — is made up of the tusks of approximately 6,700 elephants.
Clouds gathering ahead of the #IvoryBurn but a load of petrol should do the job! #worthmorealive @BBCWorld
African elephants at risk of extinction by 2025
According to experts, if mortality rates remain at current levels, there is a real risk that these pachyderms could become extinct by 2025. Today, only 10 per cent of the elephant population that existed in Africa a century ago remains.
We must defeat the smugglers to stop the biggest poachers getting away with elephant murder #GiantsClub …
According to the Kenya Wildlife Authority, around 30,000 elephants are killed every year for their tusks by increasingly well-armed poachers, aided in part by new technologies. The result, a dramatic one, is that the number of pachyderms dying of natural causes combined with those killed by poaching exceeds the species' rate of reproduction.
The Giants club — at its inaugural meeting — counts among its founding members Kenya, Gabon, Uganda and Botswana, which together are home to more than half of the elephant population present in Africa. Among its principal driving forces is Evgeny Lebedev, the youngest publisher in the United Kingdom, owner of the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers and president of the NGO Space for Giants.