Kenya is in its last preparations to set about 120 tones of elephant ivory and rhino horn ablaze in what’s considered to be the biggest stockpile of ivory ever burnt in history.
On Saturday April 30, President Uhuru Kenyatta will light up the pile in Nairobi National Park said to include ivory and horns confiscated by the Kenyan government from poachers as well as those from dead animals.
The historic gesture is intended to send a message world over about Kenya’s zero tolerance to poaching activity and illegal trade in ivory which is at its peak.
It is estimated that the stockpile is worth USD 270M.
According to a 2015 census, Africa loses 30,000 elephants each year to poachers who remove ivory and smuggle it to foreign markets commonly China.
Several heads of state, global conservationists, diplomats and celebrities are expected to witness the torching of this pile among them President Yoweri Museveni and Botswana’s President Ali Bongo.
This will be the second time the country is destroying stacks of ivory. In March 2015, President Kenyatta in a similar move burnt 15 tones of elephant and rhino ivory to ashes after several days.
Conservationists and some sections of the public in Kenya have come out to criticize the idea suggesting that government should rather sell the ivory and invest the returns into conservation efforts.
Meanwhile Kenya convened a high level Giants Club Wildlife summit on Friday in Laikipia to discuss the conservation of elephants which are increasingly becoming endangered species in Africa.
At the summit, Kenyatta said; “We shall not be known as Africans who sat and watched as we lost our elephants. To lose elephants would be to lose part of our heritage that we hold trust in. We will not
allow.”
The Giants Club is the biggest wildlife summit held in Africa.