Leaders from several African countries, conservationists, representatives from the tourism industry and prominent friends of wildlife from across the world gathered on the foothills of Mount Kenya on Friday to discuss ways to save the African elephant from being hunted to extinction for its ivory.
The presidents of Kenya, Botswana, Gabon and Uganda spoke on the first day of a two-day Giants Club Summit on how to protect elephants and their habitats.
“Because of what we can achieve together in the days, weeks and years to come, we are safeguarding nature’s greatest and most endangered species for our children, for their children, and for all those children yet to come,” said Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenya in his opening address to the summit, near the town of Nanyuki.
It is estimated that between 20,000 and 33,000 African elephants are killed every year across the continent to feed a huge demand for illegal ivory, mostly in Asia.
At the summit, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Helen Clark, is expected to announce a $60 million fund from the Global Environment Facility to be used in the fight against illicit wildlife trade in Africa.
The Giants Club Summit opened a day ahead of a Kenyan-organized ivory bonfire event where the East African country will torch 105 tonnes of its confiscated ivory stockpile.
A tonne of rhino horn will also be incinerated at the gathering, which has attracted considerable international media attention, and which will be held at the Nairobi National Park. It is intended to raise national and international awareness on the illegal wildlife trade.
