East African countries are among the beneficiaries of a raft of anti-poaching measures announced by the US, to help the continent fight wildlife crime.

A statement by Jeff Zients, the director of the National Economic Council, and Christy Goldfuss, the managing director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said East Africa will receive $800,000 to strengthen its capacity to fight poaching.

The US will also fund a three-year wildlife poaching and trafficking assessment programme in Kenya, to be conducted in partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and the wildlife conservation group, Traffic.

The Obama administration will also donate $300,000 to fund a study on illicit financial flows related to wildlife trafficking in East and Southern Africa.

The incidence of poaching has risen in East Africa in the recent past.

In 2013, for example, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) cited Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania alongside Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, China and Thailand as countries where cases of poaching are rising.

The countries were ordered to implement measures to reduce the incidences and report progress to Cites.

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Among the recommendations environmentalists put forward was that the eight countries collaborate as well as seek help from other countries to tackle poaching.

It is partly the reason the US is offering financial and technical aid to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

In West Africa, Gabon will benefit from $7 million in annual assistance as part of a five-year partnership to protect the largest remaining population of forest elephants in Africa.

The protection of forest elephants has been top on the agenda for conservationists in the recent past, after various studies showed that the numbers of the sub-species are declining at a high rate, raising concerns about its future survival.

The US is also proposing a rule to prohibit interstate commerce of African elephant ivory and beef up restrictions on commercial exports.

Zients and Goldfuss said the proposed rule, in addition to actions taken under the president’s executive order in 2013, is expected to create a near-total ban on domestic commercial trade in African elephant ivory in the US.  

Under the executive order, a presidential taskforce was established to develop and implement a national strategy for combating wildlife trafficking both in the US and abroad.

“In appropriate cases, the US shall seek to assist governments in anti-wildlife trafficking activities when requested by foreign nations experiencing trafficking of protected wildlife,” said the presidential executive order.

As per the order, the US shall also seek to reduce the demand for illegally traded wildlife, both at home and abroad, while allowing legal and legitimate commerce involving wildlife.

Noah Sitati of the African Wildlife Foundation welcomed the America’s support, saying rich countries need to be more involved in conservation efforts in Africa.

“The US, the European Union and other developed countries have come out strongly against the illegal trade in wildlife products. This is a big step towards reducing the demand,” said Mr Sitati.