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Media captionThis fire will keep burning for a number of days, reports Anne Soy in Nairobi
Kenyan President Uhuru
Kenyatta has set fire to a huge stockpile of ivory in an effort to show
his country's commitment to saving Africa's elephants.
More than 100 tonnes of ivory was stacked up in pyres in Nairobi National Park where it is expected to burn for several days. The ivory represents nearly the entire stock confiscated by Kenya, amounting to the tusks of about 6,700 elephants. Some disagree with Kenya's approach, saying it can encourage poaching. Before igniting the first pyre, Mr Kenyatta said: "The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve.
"No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in
ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our
natural heritage." Does burning actually destroy ivory? The burning comes after African leaders meeting in Kenya urged an end to illegal trade in ivory. Experts have warned Africa's elephants could be extinct within decades. But some conservationists have expressed opposition to the ivory burn in Kenya, the biggest in history. They say destroying so much of a rare commodity could increase its value and encourage more poaching rather than less. Botswana,
which is home to about half of Africa's elephants, is opposed to the
burn and its president did not attend the event in Nairobi. Demand for ivory comes largely from Asia, with the main trafficking route being through the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The war on elephants, by Alastair Leithead, BBC News
The ivory is getting through because people are
prepared to pay for it. Stopping the men with arrows and the corrupt
officials is just one part of the solution - the other is destroying the
hunger for ivory.
The love of ivory goes back millennia. Its
pure, translucent beauty and the ease with which a tusk can be carved
into intricate sculptures have given it a lasting value throughout the
ages.
Tackling demand and destroying the market are both important
but there are also ways of making elephants more valuable alive than
dead.
In the parks and game reserves of Africa, close encounters
with the most remarkable animals on the planet lie in wait - you just
need time, patience and a good eye.
Alastair's report in depth
The stockpile burned includes seized ivory carvings and statues
The African push to tackle ivory poaching, by BBC Monitoring
Kenya
is struggling with poaching, and tough laws with huge fines and prison
sentences do not seem to be a deterrent. Kenya Wildlife Service says it
suffers from staff and equipment shortages.
Uganda
is a conservation success story. Elephant populations have increased to
around 5,000 after reaching a low of 700 in the 1980s. Kampala has set
up a wildlife crime unit, and plans cross-border programmes with its
neighbours.
Gabon
uses paratroops to crack down on poachers who target elephants living
in dense equatorial forests. The wildlife service has expanded 10-fold
to over 650 guards with a much-increased budget.
Botswana
adopted a shoot-to-kill policy in December 2013 in an effort to curb
elephant poaching. It also placed a total ban on hunting in 2014 which
extends to all animal species.
Tanzania's government has increased routine patrols, netting over 1,000 suspected poachers by the end of 2015.
Africa is home to between 450,000
and 500,000 elephants but more than 30,000 are killed every year for
their tusks. Tanzania has lost 65% of its elephant population in the
past five years.
The Kenyan ivory pyres are seven times the size
of any stockpile destruction so far, and represent about 5% of global
ivory stores.
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Media captionHong Kong has a legal ivory industry
Some 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn will also be burned.
The street value of the ivory to be destroyed is estimated at more than $100m (£70m), and the rhino horn at $80m.
"We
don't believe there is any intrinsic value in ivory, and therefore
we're going to burn all our stockpiles and demonstrate to the world that
ivory is only valuable on elephants," said Kitili Mbathi, director
general of the Kenya Wildlife Service.
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