Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) which overseas the management of wildlife in the country held talks with top wildlife donors on Friday to review the status of flora and fauna in the country.
“The meeting reviewed the wildlife projects being supported by international development partners across the country and agreed to develop priority areas of partnership,” the statement said.
The meeting came after an audit done in September revealed that Kenya has a total of 140 tonnes of stockpile of elephant ivory and rhino horn.
The National Elephant and Rhino Stockpiles Inventory teams were able to count 25,052 pieces of ivory weighing 137.7 tonnes and 1,248 pieces of rhino horns whose weigh was 1.52 tonnes.
The cataloging exercise confirmed that systems put in place by KWS for the management and storage of trophies are robust, and with minimal adjustments, will meet the highest required international standards for management of such high-value products.
Kenya’s wildlife has more value to the environment and to the economy.
The proceeds from elephants in the wild, for instance, far outweigh the proceeds that would be gained from the sale of ivory.
The Friday meeting to chart the way forward for wildlife in Kenya was held under the aegis of Wildlife Sector Donor Working Group chaired by Juniper Neill, the United States Agency for Development (USAID) Director of Environment.
During the meeting, Leakey, took the donors through the KWS strategic direction for the next couple of years.
He noted that the recruitment of the new KWS director general to spearhead the process is well on course and would be concluded by the end of the year.
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