Kenya Lights World's Biggest Ivory Bonfire

More than 100 tons of ivory have been set alight in a gesture Kenya hopes will shock the world into ending the trade in elephant tusks.

Eleven pyres of tusks were piled up to be burned in Nairobi's national park.

The estimated 105 tons of ivory and 1.4 tons of rhino horn is believed to be seven times the size of any stockpile burned before.

It will mean the vast majority of the Kenya's ivory collection is destroyed.

On the black market, such a quantity of ivory could sell for more than $100m (£68.5m), while the rhino horn could raise as much as $80m (£55m).

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the tusks at a ceremony attended by a number of African heads of state.

"The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve," he said.

"No one, and I repeat no one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage."

The fires are expected to burn for several days.

Speaking at a Giants Club wildlife summit on Friday, Mr Kenyatta demanded a "total ban" on trade in ivory to prevent the extinction of Africa's embattled elephant and rhino populations.

He added on Saturday: "The height of the pile of ivory before is marks the strength of our resolve.

"No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage."

The estimated 16,000 tusks and pieces of ivory due to be set alight represent just a fraction of the 30,000 elephants believed to be killed in Africa every year.

Demand for ivory, most recently in Asia, where raw tusks sell for around $1,000 (£685) a kilo, has resulted in the number of elephants on the continent plunging from 1.2 million in the 1970s to around 400,000 today.

There are now fewer than 30,000 rhinos.

The ivory trade was banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1989.

China, however, allows the resale of ivory bought before the ban.

Activists say this serves as a cover for illegal imports.

Conservationists warn elephants could become extinct in the next 50 years.