African elephants could be wiped out in the next decade, according to The Africa Elephant Summit held in Botswana.

The conference, attended by representatives from around 20 countries, said that the number of African elephants fell from 550,000 to 470,000 between 2006 and 2013.

The decline of elephants in the wild is especially felt in East Africa.

Numbers fell from 150,000 to 100,000 in the same time period.

Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania has seen a 90% decline in elephants since it was first opened in 1982.

It has now been added to Unesco’s list of World Heritage sights.

At the conference Elias Magos, from the Botswanan environment ministry, said: “The current killing rate is unsustainable and the population of African elephants is in danger.

“The overall objective of this meeting is to secure commitments at the highest political level to effectively protect the elephants and significantly reduce the trends of killings of elephants.”

Poaching is a huge problem in Africa where international criminal organisations kill elephants and supply illegal ivory markets.

Elephant tusks are turned into jewellery or art pieces and are often bought by members of Chinese and Thai society.