Kenya recently hosted the Giant Club Summit which brought together some African leaders, celebrities, business executives and activists to champion the anti-poaching fight in Africa.

The Giant club was founded by the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta alongside the president of Uganda, Botswana and Gabon- leaders of African nations with a good population of their wildlife as Elephants- working with relevant stakeholders in line with the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI) to achieve its goal of saving at least 40,000 elephants from poaching in the continent by 2020.

The increased action towards the protection of wildlife especially Elephants and Rhinos is as a result of increased poaching activities by eco-terrorists who trade in Ivory. There can hardly be a better way to send out the message other than the burning of 1.35 tonnes of Rhino horns and 105 tonnes of Elephant Ivory (from 7000 elephants) which the Kenyan president was on hand to supervise alongside the President of Gabon and Uganda.

The elephant population in Africa is rapidly decreasing as according to a UNEP report, "It is estimated that between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory, out of a population of less than 500,000. The population of Forest Elephants has plummeted by two-thirds between 2002 and 2011 due to poaching, while reports released in 2015 show that African Savannah Elephants have declined by 60 per cent in Tanzania and by 50 per cent in Mozambique since 2009".

These actions are quite in line with the theme of this year?s World Environment Day that will be hosted in Angola which seeks to end illegal trade in wildlife- a menace in Africa. A lot of work has to be done to close the markets for these illegal trades as that will help reduce the demand for such. I am happy Africa is rising to the challenge and the rest of the world should take a cue. This is a fight we must win to conserve the heritage of our planet for generations unborn.

Source: UNEP

Photo by: Xinhua News Agency (C)