Stakeholders of the Tsavo Landscape Multi-Agency Wildlife Security Hub in Taita Taveta have agreed to establish wildlife security hubs to tackle human-wildlife conflicts, illegal trafficking and poaching. The two state of the art centres will be located at Kenya Wildlife Services office in Voi and at the Kasigau wildlife corridor. Wildlife insecurity in Kenya is characterised by poaching, illicit trade, commercial poaching for bush meat and destruction of habitats. Water, natural resources and climate change executive Esther Mwanyumba said the hubs will provide a coordinated and multi-agency approach in dealing with poaching and the perennial human-wildlife conflict. While the killing of elephants and rhinos for illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn has reduced, the rise of commercial poaching for bush meat is emerging as a serious threat. "The hubs will also create job opportunities for locals, improve their livelihoods through income-generating activities, coordinate security among other emergency operations," Mwanyuma told the Star in an interview on Wednesday. Statistics from the KWS have placed Taita Taveta county as a poaching hotspot. There has been frequent seizures of illegal bush meat in the last six years, mostly from dik-diks and eland - the world’s largest antelope. Bush meat poaching poses a great threat to wildlife population and conservation efforts. Other identified bush meat hotspots in the country include Kajiado, Nakuru, Narok, Lamu and Tana River counties. Currently, about 143 bush meat cases are pending in courts. The hubs will also be used to curtail logging, charcoal burning and bush fires along the wildlife migratory corridors at the vast Tsavo ecosystem.