Audit reveals Kenya has near 140 tonnes of ivory stockpile

Kenya has a total of 140 tonnes of stockpile of elephant ivory and rhino horn, an audit report released on Wednesday in Nairobi reveals.

Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Natural Resources Judy Wakhungu said 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.

Wakhungu said the cataloging exercise confirmed that systems put in place by Kenya Wildlife Service (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 will put in place strong systems to enhance security and management of Kenya's trophy stockpile," she told journalists in Nairobi. She said Kenya will destroy all ivory stockpiles before the end of the year.

The authorities kicked off digital inventory and DNA sampling of the country's ivory and rhino horn stocks on July 21 as part of efforts to comply with Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) convention.

The inventory is due to form the basis for future national audits in an effort to managing wildlife in the country.

The exercise involved collection of elephant ivory and rhino horn samples which will be used to create a DNA reference library for profiling the national population of elephants and rhinoceros.

The DNA reference library will help in analyzing forensic evidence for use in prosecution of wildlife crime in Kenya and the East African region.

She noted that the new approach will ensure that the existing management systems of trophies are reviewed in the country to enhance security and efficiency.

The commissioning was done in accordance with the Kenya Wildlife Act 2013 that requires that Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) undertake an audit every year of all stockpiles in the country and publish the results in the Kenya gazette.

Besides the Wildlife Act, the CITES convention to which Kenya is a signatory also requires that all state parties ascertain steps to properly manage ivory of all ivory and rhino stockpiles in the country including court exhibits and any other that may be under the custody of other agencies by virtue of their legal mandate.

Majority of the ivory audited are in custody of KWS, with a sizable volume being those seized on transit and kept under police custody at the Port of Mombasa.

KWS Board of Trustees chairman Richard Leakey said the audit confirmed Kenya's impounded ivory is in safe custody.

"There were speculations in various quarters that the amount in under safekeeping could be less, but the figures have confounded skeptics," he said. Endit