2009 Whitley Awards

“I’ve been making natural history films for over 50 years and during that short time the human population of the earth has increased threetimes. All those people need places to live, places for their food to begrown, and that has put increasing pressure on the natural world. As aconsequence, animals and plants – everywhere – are under increasingthreat of extinction. Fortunately there are people who are doing their bestto try and prevent that disaster, and who can articulate real solutions. The Whitley Awards are there to help them.“Sir David Attenborough, Trustee.

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Welcome to the 16th Whitley Awards for International NatureConservation. Since 1994, the Whitley Awards have supported the workof more than 100 conservation leaders in 50 countries. Their projects haveexpanded our knowledge of the natural world and helped safeguard thelivelihoods of local peoples. The winners are from many different culturesand backgrounds, and face many challenges. But what they have incommon is a commitment to conserving wildlife and the environment;and the determination and tenacity to succeed.

The finalists for 2009 are another group of extraordinary conservationistsworking to achieve great things through teamwork, vision and dedication.They are from Uganda, Mali, Thailand, Bulgaria, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Together they are working on a wide range of issues frominsect conservation, to wetland protection, from gorilla research tocommunity health.

2009 is proving to be a challenging year for conservation as the recessionleads to an inevitable reduction in charitable giving. Whilst the workaround the world remains just as urgent, just as challenging, just asrelevant, the funding sources available to those working on the ground areever more competitively sought. This is a crucial time for conservation andfor charities such as the WFN who have no endowment capital and soraise all the funds they distribute each year.

Whitley Award winners have for more than a decade demonstrated howwith a little support, profile and funding, international recognition can helpthem to scale up their proven local success to launch their work on alarger scale. They are making a measurable difference to species andhabitats, and the local people who rely upon them, with relatively little.Now more than ever, the world can learn from this approach.

We are delighted to welcome the 2009 Whitley Award Winners.

Edward Whitley

Chair, Whitley Fund for Nature

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s Global economic change affects us all, including charities. When times are tight it iseven more important to ensure the limited funds are used as effectively as possible.WFN has long been committed to efficient grant giving, and the last few months havebeen a time to take stock on the one hand of what has been learned to date, and on theother, of the difficult time ahead for conservation leaders, our grantees.

WFN relies on donations for all the grants we distribute. We keep overheads to aminimum, aiming for at least 90% of each donation to reach people on the ground.WFN is run by a small team equivalent to two full-time staff, and we are pleased to thisyear have raised £1 million. This funding is distributed through three types of targetedgrant, from smaller Associate Awards, to our flagship prize – The Whitley Award – andContinuation Funding for our strongest previous winners (see page 14). In this way weensure we are there to give help at the most crucial points in the careers of talentedemerging conservationists.

Tonight we will give up to seven Whitley Awards of £30,000 each, and one of thesewinners will also win the overall Gold Award to result in £60,000 of funding over twoyears. This is only possible due to the generous support of our donors. We areenormously grateful to each and every one of you. Your donations enable us to continueto offer funding to some of the world’s most effective conservation leaders at the verymoment when many other sources of funds are drying up.

Georgina Domberger

Director, Whitley Fund for Nature

Friends of the Whitley Fund for NatureWe would like to thank you all for your stoic support over the past few months, whichhas come in many forms. The ‘Friends’ are vital to the vigour of the charity, and includeall donors who are not Major sponsors or the donors of specific Awards. Funds from theFriends are pooled together to support a full Whitley Award and, if funds allow,Continuation Funding as well.

We would like to extend our greatest thanks to all our donors, including the manypeople who elected to remain anonymous. On behalf of all the winners and the WFNteam, thank you for your support.

Catherine Faulks

Chair of the Friends of the Whitley Fund for Nature

£5000 and aboveRon Beller and Jennifer MosesBertrand and Nicola FaconHenry and Madeleine WickhamLJC Fund Ltd WildInvest

up to £5000Rory and Elizabeth BrooksPhilip CayfordSimon CraneSimon and Liz DingemansCatherine and Edward FaulksMichael and Maureen HobbsChristopher and Annie NewellGregg Sando and Sarah HavensPaul and Madeleine YatesThe Golden Bottle Trust G.C. Gibson Charitable Trust The Ronald Miller Foundation

up to £1000Diane AlfanoSam and Rosie BerwickVin and Louise BhattacharjeeGuy and Katie Christie Tim and Charlotte DyeMark and Alexia FlormanEdward and Teleri IliffeSteve JudsonSimon and Penny LinnettRobert and Ruth MaxtedAnthony NolanRichard and Amicia OldfieldJulia Paton

James PonderDavid and Tanya SteynRichard and Victoria Strang

up to £500Wendy AcquistapacePoppy and Tony AdamsSarah BarbourAlex and Susanna BellRory BremnerKathryn and Simon BrewerAnthony and Fabia BromovskyJohn and Anne BuckensDavid and Jane ButterRichard BuxtonMatthew and Francesca CadburyEuan and Jane CameronJames and Veronica CarboneMark ChambersThe Earl and Countess of ChichesterMichael and Lauren ClancyCharles ColvilleGregory and Karen ConwayGraham and Carole CorneyMarianne and Peter CulverJoanna DanielChristian and Kristine de JuniacCathy Dean Chris and Liz EllertonCharles and Sarah FairbairnChristopher and Sally FordhamAnthony and Anne FryRoger and Annie GabbPatricia and Ray GallandersArne and Kate Groes

Jan and Jean GustafssonMartin and Melanie HallAlex and Hattie HambroCharles and Elizabeth HandyIan and Deborah HannamRobert HarleyPeter and Linda HarperJames Hochman and Amanda DeitschRobin and Fiona HodgsonMaitanne HuntWilliam KendallChristopher and Dana KinderPatrick LaineIan LazarusDavid and Lindsay LevinJeffrey and Nicole Lewis-OakesIna LindemannBruce and Margaret MacfarlaneHenry and Sara ManistyCharles and Alex MannersAmanda Marmot and Mark TandyIain and Silvy McQuistonNeil and Amelia MendozaAlex and Caroline MichaelisBishop and Mrs Douglas MilmineMarion Milne and Richard TurnerTom and Philippa Milnes-SmithPiers and Julia MizenTimothy and Felicia MockettRobert and Jenny MorleyCarol and Jan-Peter OnstwedderChris PackeSimon PalleyJeremy and Angela PalmerPiers and Angela Parry-Crooke

Keith and Elizabeth PonderPatricia RamsayEdward and Carol RousselFinlay and Sally ScottRichard and Victoria SharpCharles and Carol SkinnerRichard Spence and Julia KreitmanSusanna SpicerJohn and Helen SpoonerHerman and Anna SpruitJanet SuzmanChristopher and Sally TennantClare and Nick TettAnthony and Vivien ThompsonKristina Borsy and Nick TurdeanHenrik and Marika Wareborn Olivia WarhamJohn and Susie WellsCharles and Susan WhiddingtonHonor WhitleyNigel and Shane WinserTim Best Travel Cotswold Wildlife Park The O’Hea Charitable Trust Original Travel

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Major Sponsors and Whitley Award Donors

Donations in excess of £30,000Major Sponsors

ArcadiaHSBC Holdings LtdThe Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation The Whitley Animal Protection Trust

Project Partnerships

BBC Wildlife FundBig Lottery Fund

Whitley Award Donors

The William Brake Charitable TrustNatasha and George DuffieldPaula and Mario FreringThe Friends of the Whitley Fund for NatureHSBC Private Bank (UK)The Shears FoundationWWF-UK

Whitley Fund for Nature is grateful toScott Prenn, a strategic fundraisingpartnership that advises organisationshow to fund their future. Scott Prenn havehelped WFN to review theircurrent situation and haveprovided recommendations forthe future. www.scottprenn.com

Friends DonationsReceived between 5th May 2008 and 28th April 2009

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s Judging ProcessThe quest to find the winners of the Whitley Awards2009 began seven months ago. At every stage werely on the valuable input of our applicationscreeners and Judging Panel, who offer theirexpertise voluntarily.

October ’08 Deadline for applicationsNovember ’08 Eligibility screen ends (Stage 1)January ’09 Paper Screen ends (Stage 2)March ’09 Judging Panel meeting to decide shortlist (Stage 3)11th May ’09 Shortlist interviews (Stage 4)

As in previous years, we have been amazed by the variety and standard of conservation work taking place around the world. All the finalists have overcome great challenges to reach the final stages of the Whitley Awards.

Whitley Award Judging Panel

Adrian Darby OBE

Former Chairman, Joint Nature Conservation Committee Dr. Glyn Davies

Director of Programmes, WWF-UKGeorgina Domberger

Director, WFNTim Dye

Trustee, WFNCatherine Faulks

Trustee, WFNSara Morrison

Trustee Emeritus, WWF-UK Mark Rose

CEO, Fauna and Flora InternationalFrancis Sullivan

Deputy Head of Group Sustainable Development, HSBCEdward Whitley

Chair of Trustees and Founder, WFN

Application Screeners

Georgina Domberger

John Laing

Dr. Mark Wright

Conservation Science Advisor, WWF-UK

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Prithiviraj Fernando is chairman of the Centrefor Conservation and Research, based inColombo, committed to making elephantconservation a reality beyond the boundariesof protected areas.

Pruthu first began studying southern Sri Lanka’s elephants fifteen years ago for his PhD, attracted by their iconic status, role in biodiversity and their impact on human lives. The challenges presented by5,000 elephants living alongside Sri Lanka’s20 million people puts them at the heart ofsocio-economic debate.

It has long been recognised that the Asianelephant is in trouble. Its population has beenreduced by as much as 80% in most parts ofits range in the past century. Unlike for manyspecies in decline, the cause for itspredicament has been well understood fromthe outset: a dramatic increase in humanpopulation resulting in the occupation of formerelephant territories, and the demand for ivory.Most countries in Asia have responded mainlythrough legal protection, but also by seeking torestrict elephants to protected areas and byfencing off farmlands to protect crops.

These methods have also been applied inSri Lanka. Nevertheless, human-elephantconflict claims on average the lives of onehuman and three elephants every week of theyear. At present, Sri Lankans who share landwith elephants receive no benefits but oftenbear costs they cannot afford. This leadscommunities to press for elephants to beremoved. Pruthu says “In 2009, there are at least two elephant drives planned forthis purpose”.

It was Pruthu who first challenged thestatus quo. His work has demonstratedscientifically that Sri Lanka’s elephantpopulation cannot survive in the available

protected areas alone, and that a new systemis called for, where elephants seasonally sharefarmlands, especially those under shiftingcultivation. Unlike many scientists, Pruthu hasdone much more than simply generatescience: he has been a vocal and articulateadvocate of solving the problem.

CCR’s most recent achievement has been to persuade Sri Lanka’s ForestDepartment to begin opening its land toelephants, providing official protection to twothirds of the current elephant range. At a localscale, the introduction of electric fences insome areas is reducing damage to homes and kitchen gardens.

Pruthu has a deep empathy for the ruralfarming people. The next challenge is to workwith 240 farming families to develop aworking model, based on solid science. The team will help the farmers to defendpaddy fields during cultivation – but then allow elephants into their fields onceharvesting ends, so that the herds can move between patches of habitat and feed on left over harvest. If successful thisapproach could be widely replicated acrossAsia, with obvious benefits both to theirpeople and their biodiversity.

Asian elephants and people: Taking conservationbeyond protected area boundaries Pruthu Fernando

Sri Lanka

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Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is Founder andCEO of Conservation Through PublicHealth, a non-profit organisation working toprotect the mountain gorillas of Bwindi, aremote and densely forested area in southwest Uganda that is the only majorstronghold of the species outside Rwanda.CTPH is unique, and works to prevent thespread of disease from wild animals tohumans, and vice versa, by improvingprimary healthcare for people and animalsin and around protected areas in Africa.

Gladys first learned about Uganda’s

gorillas as a teenage wildlife advocate inKampala where her passion for animals ledto her starting a wildlife club at her school,setting up bird feeders and nature areas inits grounds, and organised trips to theQueen Elizabeth National Park.

Her interest was fuelled further whenshe won a scholarship to train at the RoyalVeterinary College in London and heardlectures about Africa’s great apes and theirconservation needs. At 25, she becameUganda’s first wildlife veterinary officerwith a brief that included protecting thehealth of gorillas in Bwindi where eco-tourism was rising and increasing the levelof contact between gorillas and people.

There, Gladys proved that cross-infection is possible when in 1996 and again in 2000 she traced an outbreakof scabies in the mountain gorillas to thelocal community where access tohealthcare and health education wasextremely limited.

Today, CTPH is addressing the issue bygalvanising local people to adopt betterhealth and hygiene approaches whichbenefit them and the gorillas, andenthusing them to help with surveys and

monitoring through community-ledoutreach and education. She is helping the community to improve facilities toattract ecotourists and ensure that tourists themselves do not bring disease to the gorillas.

The next step of her work is to develophouse visits in order to contact the peopleliving in the most remote homes borderingthe park, and the 500 or so people who seegorillas most often. Many challengesremain. In March this year, concerns wereraised about virulent new strains ofdiseases, such as polio, entering Ugandaprompting a mass new vaccinationprogramme. The good news is that Gladysand her team are now prepared to respondto crises. She is working to train localpeople in gorilla health monitoring,cultivating a winning attitude toconservation and public health in localcommunities.

Mountain Gorilla conservationthrough public healthGladys Kalema-Zikusoka

Uganda

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Dr. Madhusudan is Director of NatureConservation Foundation, a young NGO thathas grown quickly to become one of themost respected in India.

His work focuses on the Western Ghats –the world’s most densely populatedbiodiversity hotspot, supporting 350 peopleper square kilometre. It is also home to anestimated 350-500 tigers alongside 15,000 elephants and a host of otherendangered wildlife.

So much wildlife alongside so manypeople has led to increasing tension overspace. Despite being prohibited by law, localpeople rely greatly on subsistence use of theforest. Madhu’s research gives growingevidence that such use is often notsustainable. At the same time, proximity toparks imposes heavy costs on the samelocal communities when they sufferagricultural and livestock losses to wildlife.

Madhu and his team work to combinescience with practical conservation action toresolve conflict. Nationally, he is part of a

Government-backed project to map thedistribution of large mammals and identifynew conservation areas, whilst regionally heresearches the ecology and economics ofagro-forestry sites close to reserves. Atgrassroots level, he works with farmersaround the Bandipur Tiger Reserve on a pilotcommunity-based conflict mitigation project.

Madhu’s community work was partlyinspired by an elderly couple he met whilstconducting wildlife research. Over time helearned they were entirely dependent oncrops from a tiny plot of rented land, paid for in grain. Each day, the man and his wife laboured in the field; each night, theman climbed a ‘look-out’ tree to determarauding elephants.

“One morning, I found the coupledisconsolate. The night before, theexhausted man had nodded off briefly yet inthose few moments, their entire crop hadbeen destroyed, leaving them with nothing….For someone raised in the city, like me, itshowed the true harshness of marginal lifeand the high cost our very poorest peoplepay for wildlife conservation.”

Madhu and his team work with familieswhose farms border protected areas to

develop solutions, such as solar-poweredelectric fences to protect crops. Before thefence went up a year ago, families werelosing about a quarter of their crops toelephants; this year, they've lost none.

A more productive farm reduces thelikelihood of communities illegally using thepark for grazing or fuelwood. Madhu isworking with park officials to improve policyand increase social equity, whilst at thesame time expanding his work to help morefamilies, and the wildlife they live alongside,become good neighbours.

Making good neighbours: Conflict reductionbetween people and endangered wildlifeM. D. Madhusudan

India

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Dino Martins is Chairman of the InsectCommittee of Nature Kenya, a researcher atthe National Museums of Kenya and a PhD fellow at Harvard. Growing up in ruralKenya, he was interested in nature from anearly age. “Watching birds and animals, andespecially insects, was what I lookedforward to, and continue to look forward to, everyday.”

Where others strive to conserve Kenya’sfamous national parks and big iconicspecies, Dino’s focus is on the insects thatflourish in tiny forest remnants and atfarmland edges. These small wild areassupport thousands of species of frogs,butterflies, orchids and trees, providingessential ecosystem services and, mostcritically, crop pollination. Insects contributeto food security, yet they are oftenoverlooked in conservation.

Only 1.7 % of Kenya remains forested,with islands of trees in a sea of ruralsubsistence agriculture. For millennia peoplehave farmed around wilder patches.

However, increasing pressures are beingplaced on these areas due to changingfarming systems, charcoal production and,more recently, climate change.

Dino’s work is driven by the knowledgethat Kenya’s population is booming, peopleneed food and there’s pressure to adoptagri-chemical methods even thoughsustainable farming is viable. Biodiversity isat risk, with knock-on effects for small farmsand their incomes.

A key element of Dino’s work iseducation. Once, in southern Kenya, hefound passion-fruit farmers crushing beeswith their hands, to keep them away fromtheir flowers. “But the reason there wereno yields on certain crops was because they

were killing off the pollinators. Once Iexplained this, they had bumper yields. Noweveryone there recognises the value ofinsects, especially pollinators”.

He is also tapping local expertise – suchas the West Kenyan farmer who hasdiscovered how to harvest honey fromstingless wild bees, without destroying asingle nest. “It is local people like this whoneed to be supported and encouraged toscale-up the amazing things they are doing.He is able to sell his honey and, of course,his bees are pollinating his crops”.

Dino has researched the biology ofpollinators all over East Africa includingthose affecting acacias, coffee, papaya, andvanilla. He is developing a long-termprogramme with schools immediatelyadjacent to the most biodiverse areas ofKenya, getting kids involved in insectmonitoring. He now plans to create a live pollinator exhibit at public sites forfarmers, school children and the generalpublic to increase awareness of theimportance of insects.

He adds: “Life is fragile and intricatelyinter-connected. If pollinators die off, humanbeings won’t be far behind.”

People, Plants and Pollinators: Uniting conservationof insects and sustainable agricultureDino Martins

Kenya

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Bourama Niagate is the Founder ofAMEPANE, a Malian NGO working toimprove the livelihoods of local people andconserve wildlife at Bafing Faunal Reserve.Mali is Ranked 173rd out of 177 nations inthe United Nations Human DevelopmentIndex, and Bafing is one of its poorestregions. Overhunting is a problem, andgiraffes and elephants have alreadydisappeared from the ecosystem. Projects such as the construction of theManantali dam in the 1980s havecontributed to ecological disruption. Thedam – the biggest in West Africa –eliminated the floods that had provided freeirrigation for half a million farmers.

Bourama’s work focuses on an areaclose to the borders with Senegal andGuinea. He first visited the species-richBafing area in 1986 when UNESCO fundeda feasibility study into creating a reserve inthe aftermath of the dam. The dam projectattracted workers from outside the area,provoked development pressure and

disrupted traditional lifestyles and teachings,such as hunting patterns that allow nature to recover. Poverty means that bushmeattrading, poaching and overgrazing areinevitable as families struggle to survive in a place where hunger is a constant.

Much of Bourama Niagate’s work today is driven by the Malian sayings: “An empty stomach does not wait”. With a raft of partners, including the BornFree Foundation, he is attempting toimprove healthcare, education, incomesand living standards so that Bafingcommunities feel less need to over-exploittheir wild plants and animals and have abetter understanding of the value of habitat protection.

Bourama has worked in the Bafingecosystem for the last 25 years and hasdeveloped a strong relationship with theMalian government. Successes to dateinclude educational outreach to thecommunities of Bamafélé and Koundian andcapacity-building, as well as publication ofthe first Malian guide of wild fauna.

Bourama’s team now aims to identifymeasures to enhance the conservation ofspecies in danger of local extinction, such asthe African wild dog and the Derby Eland,and to collect new data on species thatcould be central to future ecotourism, suchas chimpanzees. As well as expandingeducational work in schools and amongstthe community, greater protection andenforcement will be achieved through thetraining of rangers and eco-guards.

In 2007, Bourama Niagate’sachievements to date were recognisedwhen he was awarded the French NationalOrder of Merit. He is the first Malian to beshortlisted for a Whitley Award.

Conservation and Community outreach at Bafing ReserveBourama Niagate

Mali

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Jittin Ritthirat was first drawn to Salakpraby the region’s mountains and naturalbeauty. “A vivid memory is lying in ahammock observing a herd of wildelephants by the light of a full moon nightwhen I camped in the forest. I kept awakethroughout the night as they moved around at a relaxing pace, sometimeswithin hand’s reach! I still remember themoon shining on their backs that night. It isjust like a dream”.

The dream has its dark side, though.Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary is Thailand’soldest reserve. Established in 1965 it wasonce famous for its rich forest fauna closeto Bangkok. Unfortunately, management ofthe reserve has been neglected. Over theyears, a growing human population aroundits unclear boundary has come intoincreasing conflict with the park’s lastelephants, sometimes with fatal results.

Elephants need to range beyond parkboundaries to survive, but this brings theminto conflict with communities who can

ill-afford to lose crops. At the same time,illegal exploitation of the sanctuary iscommonplace, by local people as well aspoachers, for fuelwood and grazing.Furthermore local people have not beenproperly included in decisions which affectthem. Despite living alongside a dam at theRiver Kwai, they have no running water.

Jittin is co-founder of ElephantConservation Network, established in 1999as a research and outreach organisation toimprove life for people and elephants. ECNis working with people to increase theirunderstanding of why elephants are drivento forage outside the reserve. The team ishelping those worst affected to erect cropdefences, but ECN’s work goes much

further than this. Unlike many other Thai NGOs which focus on either human well-being or the welfare of wildlife, ECN does both.

Jittin says: “We turned some localpeople, who were against us and wildelephants, into our friends within a year ortwo … They have stopped asking forcompensation but instead take action and collaborate to solve the problem withus. Many now feel sympathetic towardswild elephants after learning what iscausing the problem. This is rewarding for me, particularly when looking back to when farmers were angry,hopeless, pessimistic.”

Jiittin now aims to develop a cattlemanagement plan, as well as an alternativelivelihood programme and new educationwork, to reduce the dependency of peopleon the forest. Local people are workingwith ECN to change how park managersthink, and ensure communities see benefitsfrom the park as well as challenges.

Community-led conservation of Thailand’s Elephantsin populated monsoon forestJittin Ritthirat

West Thailand

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Emil Todorov leads a team at the BulgarianSociety for the Protection of Birds working toprotect one of Europe’s greatest rivers, theLower Danube. Dividing Northern Bulgariafrom Romania, the river lies within one of theEuropean Union’s least developed regions.

Emil grew up here, and it was as aschoolboy BSPB volunteer that a wildlifesighting decided him on his future direction.“I remember being so inspired by seeing themagnificent white-tailed eagle in flight that Isaid then and there that I would do anythingto keep this eagle in the area.”

Today he is working with policy-makers,planners and local people, raising awarenessof how the lower reaches of the Danubeprovide a critical corridor for migrating birdsand a vital resource for rare breeding birds,including globally threatened red-breastedgoose, lesser white-fronted goose, Dalmatianpelican and Endangered Egyptian vulture.72% of the original floodplain of the Lower Danube has been cut off from theriver or drained for agricultural use, making

what habitat remains of great importance to conservation.

Emil and his team have successfullyidentified 17 Important Bird Areas andachieved their legal protection. As well ascollecting important biological data, Emil hasworked to gain the support of locals as‘caretakers’ who help with bird surveys, themapping of special sites, public educationand practical action. This approach hasincreased local capacity and created a newsense of ownership over conservationresults. Many farmers have installed nestboxes for the European Roller, whilstfisherman help report where white-tailedeagles nest on the Danube islands.

An emerging challenge is a proposal for a

150-turbine wind farm in the path ofmigrating birds, regardless of its potentialenvironmental impact. The turbines willstretch across a wide area, creating a 20kmbarrier. Emil supports Bulgaria’s desire toreduce its carbon emissions but says: “We believe that the ideas for developingrenewable energy could be realised withoutharming endangered birds and otherbiodiversity, if nature values are taken intoconsideration in advance.”

In response to this emerging threat, Emilis working with experts and local people toaction a rethink of current planning decisions,and so safeguard the lower Danube’s naturalrichness and the flocks of birds which passthrough every year.

Ecosystem approach to conservation of theheadwaters of the Amazonian, TambopataEmil Todorov

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Wetlands of the Lower Danube: Protecting criticalmigratory corridors for globally threatened birds

Continuation Funding Winners 2008-2009

Randall Arauz, Action for sharks, Costa Rica

Gargi Banerji, Sustainable use of medicinal and aromatic plants, Himalayas, India

Sergei Bereznuk, Amur tiger and leopard conservation, Primorye, Russia

Achilles Byaruhanga & Kerryn Morrison, Crane and wetland conservation, Uganda

Gerardo Ceballos, Biosphere reserve for the prairie dog grassland ecosystem, Mexico

Laury Cullen, Jaguars as landscape detectives for the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Dmitry Lisitsyn, Vostochny wild salmon refuge: conservation of Sakhalin Island, Russia

Charudutt Mishra, People and snow leopards in the Himalayan high altitudes, India

Claudio Padua, Black-faced lion tamarins: implementing a Species Action Plan, Brazil

Emilian Stoynov, Predators, People and Livestock in peaceful co-existence, Bulgaria

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s SUPPORT FOR OUR

MOST EFFECTIVE WINNERS

It is often repeated that conservation is not about one-off grant giving.This is true now more than ever. It is easy to care about theenvironment when times are good, but if the world sees conservationas a luxury to be put aside when less convenient, what of the workthat has already been funded? Self-sustainability is an urgent goal ofall conservation work supported by the WFN, but achieving that goaltakes time and continued investment.

WFN stays in close touch with winners, offering support, contactsand advice. When funding allows, the most successful are invited toreapply after the conclusion of their Whitley Award work and oncetheir final report has been received and assessed.

This ‘Continuation Funding’, which this year ranged from grants of£30,000 to £60,000, allows us to continue our link between you and our most effective winners. We are proud to have contributed totheir ongoing success.

Starting in 2005, we have offered grants to fund projects withoutstanding promise. The Associate Awards have allowed WFN tobroaden support of grassroots nature conservation at an earlier level,which is often the most critical part of a project’s growth. Small grantsof up to £10,000 give these winners an important boost and we stayin touch with them as they progress. In 2008, Jean Wiener and Liu Yiwere both winners who successfully ‘graduated’ to a full WhitleyAward, two years on from their Associate Award, illustrating the valueof these small grants.

FUNDING THE NEXT

GENERATION OF WHITLEY

AWARD WINNERS

Associate Award Winners 2009

Leonard Akwany, Conservation and Improved livelihoods at Lake Victoria Wetland, Kenya

Sudipto Chatterjee, An Action Plan for conservation of wild Rhododendrons, Eastern Himalayas, India

Gang Chen, Wild Bactrian Camel conservation through sustainable desert communities in Xinjiang, China

Ravi Corea, Improving land use practices to mitigate human-elephant conflict, Sri Lanka

Supraja Dharini, Community based conservation of sea turtles and dolphins in Kancheepuram, India

We would like to thank…

Esmee Fairbairn FoundationHSBC Holdings PlcWildInvest

…for their support of the Associate Awards 2009.

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Patron

HRH The Princess Royal

Ceremony kindly hosted by

Kate Humble

Short films narrated by

Natasha Duffield

Whitley Fund for Nature team

Georgina Domberger

DirectorAnnabel Lea

ManagerHelen Sturdy

Finance Manager

Awards Ceremony team

Mandy Duncan-Smith

Show ProducerCaroline Clark

Production ManagerTony Hare

Film scripts and Winner speaker training

Whitley Fund for Nature Trustees

Sir David AttenboroughTim DyeCatherine FaulksEdward Whitley

Vice Patron

John Laing

Acknowledgements

Press and PR

Pam BeddardEvent Management

Media NaturaGraphic Design

DesignRaphael LtdPrint

Elephant Graphics LtdPhotography

Alex LloydFilms

Charles Davies

Printed on Revive Pure White Uncoated a recycled gradecontaining 100% post consumer waste and manufacturedat a mill accredited with ISO 14001 environmentalmanagement standard. The pulp used in this product isbleached using an Elemental Chlorine Free process (ECF).

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2009 Whitley Awards

Whitley Fund for Nature

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