Lupita Nyong’o has joined a world campaign against the trade in ivory.

The Kenyan-born 12 Years A Slave actress returned to her home country to become the latest celebrity to support WildAid, an international wildlife organisation working to stem poaching by curbing consumer demand for illegal wildlife products.

“I have joined @WildAid as a global ambassador to call for us to save elephants from extinction. Join me. Be #ivoryfree,” the Oscar-winning star wrote on Instagram.

“And visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust @dswt to meet adorable orphaned baby elephants with names, histories, personalities and a desire to live out their lives. #whenyouknowmoreyoudomore”

“I am very honoured to be speaking here today, as a global ambassador for WildAid, on a topic so dear to my heart – the conservation and preservation of elephants,” she said at the press conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

“I am proud of my Kenyan heritage and part of that heritage is the incredible wildlife haven that is in our care. I ask the world to end the current elephant poaching crisis by being ivory free,” she added.

While a ban on the international trade of ivory has been in place since 1989, poaching continues to wipe out 33,000 elephants across Africa each year.

Poaching has halved elephant populations in Mozambique and Tanzania since 2009, according to aerial surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society.