Uganda, Kenya meet to end elephant poaching in Africa

Kampala. African leaders and tourism enthusiasts are plotting for a new African-led path to end poaching on the continent.
This is through the Giants Club- a select coalition of African leaders enlisting the power of business and entertainment superstars to accelerate progress towards saving the African elephant from extinction.
This club comprises countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Garbon and Botswana.

In order to take this agenda forward, the heads of state are scheduled to meet for a two-day summit starting Friday in Nairobi, Kenya.
President Museveni was the first East African leader to endorse the Giants Club initiative in Kampala in July 2015 and has been at the forefront of conservation. This has seen Uganda’s elephant population grow from 700 - 800 in the 1980s to over 6,000 heads according to Uganda Wildlife Authority.
In an interview with Daily Monitor about the initiative, Mr Amos Wekesa, the chairperson of the Tourism Committee of the Presidential Investors Round Table, said: “We visited Kenya recently to see and learn about this initiative and I must say it is a great idea.”

Poaching
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) estimated that in 2013, more than 20,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks. In 2014, the numbers were virtually the same.
More than 60 per cent of carcasses surveyed across the continent in 2014 died at the hands of poachers.
According to Cites, anything more than 50 per cent sends elephant numbers into decline and conservationists have warned African elephants could be extinct in the wild within a few decades if poaching is not stopped.

The 2015 Uganda Bureau of Statistics Abstract Report puts Kenya’s elephant population at 38,000 while it says Uganda’s elephant population growth is a global success story where other nations are struggling with falling numbers.
Mr Evgeny Lebedev, a conservationist and patron of the Space for Giants club says that there is an urgent need to conserve Africa’s most iconic species which face extinction.
“My hope is that, together with corporate donors and other leaders across the continent, we can make an immediate impact, and so improve the prospects for some of the most beautiful landscapes and animals on earth,” Lebedev noted.

Destination
According to UWA ivory from killed elephants dominates the illegal wildlife trade in Uganda. Smugglers mostly take this ivory to China.

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