African forest elephant on brink of extinction

As world leaders descend on London for the largest ever conference on the illegal wildlife trade, we examine the efforts being made to end illegal poaching

An estimated 100 elephants are killed across Africa today. Poached, in all likelihood, in front of their families. Their tusks ripped off to meet the global greed for ivory.

The species are in crisis. Elephant populations in some parts of Africa could be wiped out in as little as five years' time. But world leaders, heads of state, and delegates from around 50 countries will descend on London for the world's largest ever conference on the illegal wildlife trade with the aim of changing this.

As many as 50,000 elephants are being poached each year to satisfy the booming ivory market.

At least 45 tons of ivory were seized in 2013, believed to be the biggest annual haul in a quarter of a century. Last year was the worst on record for rhino poaching in South Africa, with 1,004 animals killed, a 50 percent increase on 2012. There are now less than 3,500 wild tigers left worldwide.

Crucially, a top level delegation will join some of the world's most powerful people in a bid to find solutions to the spiralling trade, focusing on strengthening law enforcement and the criminal justice system, reducing demand for illegal wildlife products and supporting sustainable livelihoods for affected communities.

The British Government "has a responsibility to push for an international action plan to urgently tackle this trade," Labour leader Ed Miliband told The Independent.

"Such a plan must include a comprehensive agreement to stop the sale of stockpiles of products like ivory, as well as measures to reduce demand for them and incentivise communities in desperately poor parts of the world to protect rather than poach."This is a multibillion pound business that not only symbolises the damage being wreaked to our planet's environment and diversity but has also fuelled organised crime and destabilised the security of entire regions."

Experts have described the £12bn illegal wildlife trade as "one of the most pressing conservation issues of our time."

It amounts to the world's fourth biggest illegal trade after narcotics, human trafficking and counterfeiting. Criminal syndicates are wreaking havoc across Africa as they commission the mass slaughter of animals.

Their trade has been linked to drug trafficking and terrorism. More than 1,000 rangers have lost their lives trying to stop the poachers. Over the past few months,

A coalition of the world's most influential conservationists, led by the Duke of Cambridge, launched an unprecedented global initiative to tackle the illegal wildlife trade at the Zoological Society of London's International Wildlife Trafficking Symposium.

The launch came as new data reveals that 65 percent of forest elephants in central Africa were killed between 2002 and 2013.

The elephants, from five countries, are being poached for their ivory at a rate of at least 60 a day or one every 20 minutes, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Dr John Robinson, its chief conservation officer, warned that if the London commitments fail "the African forest elephant will blink out in our lifetimes."

For Kenyan scientist Dr Paula Kahumbu, executive director of charity WildlifeDirect, the conference must show its willingness to do things differently. This isn't just a conservation crisis and it shouldn't just be conservation organisations involved."

- The Independent