Kitili Mbathi: “anybody who has any ivory, you should be ashamed of yourself”

Kenyan Wildlife Service boss Kitili Mbathi explains the importance of the largest ivory burn in history, which the Kenyan government will undertake following the Giants Club Summit

More than 200 political leaders, conservationists and businesspeople from Africa and around the world have gathered in the foothills of Mount Kenya to find ways of protecting Africa’s elephants and battling the poachers who have left them facing extinction.

At the two-day Giants Club summit, African heads of state will join other politicians, the UN, wildlife groups, scientists, and businesses as they seek ways to finance and conduct the battle against the poachers, and conserve the elephant population.

Events will climax at 3pm tomorrow with the burning in Nairobi of Kenya’s entire stockpile of seized ivory. More than 105 tonnes — eight times more than has ever before been destroyed at once — will go up in flames at a ceremony attended by thousands of people. At the same time, more than a tonne of rhino horn will be destroyed.

The Giants Club was founded by the Presidents of Kenya, Gabon, Uganda and Botswana, and Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev, the patron of Space for Giants and the Giants Club. It was created to unite African governments, businesses and conservationists to find a solution to the poaching crisis and assist in the implementation of the Elephant Protection Initiative.