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Africa is in the midst of a poaching crisis, driven primarily by demand in Asia for wildlife products. Three-quarters of illegal ivory makes its way to China, while Vietnam is the largest market for rhino horn. Updated elephant population estimates, issued by the U.S. State Department, now hover around 400,000, indicating that one in five elephants have been killed for their tusks during the past 10 years. In 2015, 1,338 rhinos were killed for their horns, out of a total estimated population of just 25,600 black and white rhinos.

Ivory burns and crushes have become a popular but controversial method for nations to publicly assert their opposition to the illegal wildlife trade. Nearly 20 of those events have taken place in the past 27 years, in countries ranging from the U.S. to China and Gabon to the Philippines. Kenya’s burn in 2016, however, is by far the largest in history (Hong Kong held the previous record, destroying 28 tons in 2014). Still, Kenya’s burned ivory represents just 5 percent of what is currently held in government stockpiles across Africa.
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Ivory Burning Kenya - 2016
Africa is in the midst of a poaching crisis, driven primarily by demand in Asia for wildlife products. Three-quarters of illegal ivory makes its way to China, while Vietnam is the largest market for rhino horn. Updated elephant population estimates, issued by the U.S. State Department, now hover around 400,000, indicating that one in five elephants have been killed for their tusks during the past 10 years. In 2015, 1,338 rhinos were killed for their horns, out of a total estimated population of just 25,600 black and white rhinos.<br /> <br /> Ivory burns and crushes have become a popular but controversial method for nations to publicly assert their opposition to the illegal wildlife trade. Nearly 20 of those events have taken place in the past 27 years, in countries ranging from the U.S. to China and Gabon to the Philippines. Kenya’s burn in 2016, however, is by far the largest in history (Hong Kong held the previous record, destroying 28 tons in 2014). Still, Kenya’s burned ivory represents just 5 percent of what is currently held in government stockpiles across Africa.