On the evening of Monday 18th February over 150 guests gathered at the High Commissioner’s private residence for the event, called “Ivory & Insecurity”. The harmonies of Kenya’s famous Moipei Quartet welcomed the crowd of diplomats, senior officials from the Kenyan Government, judicial experts, business leaders and top NGO personnel.
The evening was organised by Save the Elephants and the British High Commission, and was sponsored by Safaricom and Tusker (a brand belonging to East African Breweries).
The High Commissioner began the talks by drawing attention to the fact that the illegal wildlife trade was the 5th largest illegal international activity and that the potential for profits funding terrorism is real. He ended by introducing a hard-hitting film clip made by the African Environmental Film Foundation.
Next up, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, described the scope of the crisis across Africa. Despite the scale of the issue, he emphasised that there was cause for optimism given the way that cultural norms in the Far East have shifted before. He then gave the audience a sneak preview of a Public Service Announcement featuring the Chinese superstar Yao Ming during his visit to Kenya, soon to be broadcast across China.
John Scanlon, Secretary General of CITES, spoke next. “We’re experiencing the worst spike in the illegal killing of the African elephant that we’ve seen in several decades,” he said. He then called for international crime-fighting techniques to be brought to bear on the smuggling cartels.
Pat Awori, Trustee of the Kenya Wildlife Service and chair of the Kenya Elephant Forum spoke movingly about the importance of elephants to Kenyan culture and economy. “The only way that we’re going to be able to solve this problem is by working together,” she said.
The UK’s Minister for Natural Resources Richard Benyon was in attendance. He re-iterated the brave and important work of the Kenya Wildlife Service and other anti-poaching units, and emphasised how important the issue is to the UK Prime Minister and other world leaders.
After the talks guests stayed talking for another hour and a half, surrounded by powerful images of elephants displayed on around the marquee. Spurred on by the speeches there was much networking being done on behalf of the elephants, and some important alliances were forged. In the words of one guest, the evening was a perfect pre-CITES launch pad.
Watch the speeches on YouTube
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