Programme Manager's Message

On 19th February 2006, our colleague and dear friend, Kate Stokes, tragically died with her partner. They were caught in extreme weather conditions whilst on a climbing holiday in the Picos de Europa Mountains in Spain.

Kate worked with us as Programme Officer since 2002, and judging from the hundreds of messages we’ve received from award winners, partners and colleagues, she clearly had an enormous impact, giving friendship and support to hundreds of young conservationists over the past 4 years. Her warmth, energy, enthusiasm and commitment will be terribly missed by us all.

We have been working closely with Kate’s family to establish a memorial award in Kate’s name in support of young conservationists around the world. If you would like to donate to this fund please send a cheque (in British Pounds or US Dollars) to FFI, Great Eastern House, Tenison Road, Cambridge, CB1 2TT. Please make cheques payable to “Fauna & Flora International” and clearly state it is for Kate’s Award.

Along with all this sadness, there is also reason to look forward to the future of the Programme. On Tuesday 14th March, our Final Selection Judges decided the 2006 BP Conservation Programme Award winners. We were delighted to see the strength and quality of the 160 applications received, and it was very difficult for the judges to make their final decisions.

We are now extremely excited at the prospect of working to support this year’s projects that will not only build the skills and knowledge of these young teams, but each project will also have the opportunity to make a real difference for the conservation of globally threatened species and habitats around the world.

We are inviting a representative from each of the Future Conservationist Award winning projects to attend a series of practical training workshops in the UK at the end of May; whilst each of the Conservation Follow-up and Conservation Leadership Award winning teams will have a representative of their team attend this year’s Society for Conservation Biology meeting in San Jose, California, USA in late June. Please see below for the list of award winning teams and our warmest congratulations go to them all!

Marianne Carter, BP Conservation Programme Manager

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28 – 30 March Student Conference on Conservation Science, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

20 – 31 March Convention on Biological Diversity COP 8, Curitiba, Brazil

2 – 8 April 26th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium, Crete, Greece

14 May – 3 June Smithsonian Biodiversity Assessment and Monitoring course, Washington, DC

24 – 28 June SCB Annual Meeting: Conservation Without Borders, San Jose, California, USA

24 – 28 June Society for Conservation GIS Annual Meeting, San Jose, California, USA

7 – 11 August ESRI User Conference, San Diego, California, USA

13 – 19 August 24th International Ornithological Congress, Hamburg, Germany

22 – 26 August 1st European Congress of Conservation Biology, Eger, Hungary

3 – 7 September VII International Conference for Wildlife Management in Amazonia and Latin America, Bahia, Brazil

17 – 29 September Smithsonian Environmental Leadership Course, Washington, DC

Words of Appreciation From the Family of Kate Stokes

2006 Award Winners Announced

News From the Field

AFRICA

Tulbagh Renosterveld Project, South Africa (Silver Award 2005)
We have had lots of fires in the Western Cape, and although many people think it's devastating, plant freaks like us think it’s great! Now in Spring 2006, we will be able to see all the fantastic bulbs that have been dormant for all these years.

Rainforest Reserves for Critically Endangered Comorian Fruit Bats (Gold Award 2005)
With the beginning of our fieldwork in December 2005, our team has already conducted ecological surveys in five of our seven target forest areas. Results indicate the target forest patches are very important to conservation, as they retain valuable biodiversity – significant populations of the critically endangered Livingstone’s flying foxes, an abundance of other threatened bird, mammal, and tree species, and a diversity of other endemic species.

Bat Conservation, Madagascar (Consolidation Award 2004)
The period from January to March in Madagascar is the wettest of the year and the island is frequently battered with cyclones. It is also an important period for bats because the rains signal the superabundance of insect prey at a time when juvenile bats are just taking to the wing.

Mpingo Conservation Project, Tanzania (Consolidation Award 2004)
Forestry has been big news in Tanzania in the first two months of 2006. The new government has listed it as one of their priorities and instituted a logging ban in an attempt to curb rampant illegal logging, which is stripping southern Tanzania, including our main field sites, of all its valuable timber.

Yala Wetland Management for Sustainable Development, Kenya (Bronze Award 2003)
We held a meeting with the Action Aid programme leader in the Yala Region. In addition to supplying them with the poster and the report of our study, we agreed to work together as friends of Yala Swamps.

Read more about projects in Africa...

ASIA / PACIFIC

Extending Chelonian Research, Education and Conservation, Cambodia (Follow-up Award 2005)
In our efforts to promote conservation and education last year, we found another turtle species to add to our list of 7 turtle species in the southwest region of Cambodia. The yellow-headed temple turtle is a very important IUCN-classified endangered species, and we are happy to add it to our list of conservation priorities.

Conservation of Gangetic Dolphin in Brahmaputra River System, India (Bronze Award 2004)
The team organized a 3-day educational field training camp at Nimatighat of Eastern Assam. The aim of this camp was to teach community youth of Eastern Assam about dolphin conservation, and thirty youths from different communities of Eastern Assam as well as the local Forest Department, a few NGOs and media persons participated in this training camp. This education effort was the first of its kind in Brahmaputra Valley.

Bat Count 2003, Philippines (Gold Award 2003)
For its natural beauty, Boracay is one of the prime tourist destinations in the Philippines. Despite this, the island has had its share of environmental problems primarily because of unregulated development that has resulted in water quality problems and a waste management crisis.

Eco-Friendly Volunteers, Sri Lanka (Spot Billed Pelican Project, Bronze Award 2003)
Eco Friendly Volunteers (ECO-V), a Sri Lankan environmental organization, celebrated its 5th anniversary last week. Kanchana Weerakoon established ECO-V in year 2001 after meeting Edward Whitley of Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), UK at the 10th anniversary of BP Conservation Programme Awards Ceremony.

Conservation and Monitoring of Tibetan Antelope in Hoh Xil Nature Reserve (Bronze Award 2004)
Everything is going well, and the fieldwork for the Tibetan Antelope project will be all finished in late September. In 2005, we continued monitoring the migration of the chiru population from Sanjiang Yuan Nationgal Nature Reserve to Hoh-xil.

Finding Napo: Conservation of napoleon wrasses and rare corals at Namu Atoll, Marshall Islands (Bronze Award 2004)
Finally, we know that the Finding Napo at Rongerik 2006 trip is going ahead. In collaboration with the College of the Marshall Islands, the team was able to secure n NOAA Coral Reef Conservation grant as matching funding to the BPCP award, so planning for the trip is happening.

Read more about projects in Asia and the Pacific...

EURASIA

Developing Conservation Measures for Darevsky's Viper, Armenia (Gold Award 2005)
To develop the conservation measures for the Darevsky's viper, we have 1.) produced a map of administrative borders of the rural communities and the land use patterns within the snake range; and 2.) carried out the geobotanical description and GIS mapping for further extrapolation of habitats.

Read more about projects in Eurasia...

LATIN AMERICA / CARIBBEAN

YARÉ: Yariguíes Assessment and Research of Endangered species, Colombia (Silver Award 2005)
We want to start this note expressing our deep sadness about Kate Stokes. We would like to dedicate our discoveries and achievements to her memory as Kate believed in supporting projects such as this and worked hard for conservation during her life. It is now time to pack bags and equipment and to put all our results together.

Assessment of Seabird Bycatch in Peruvian Artisanal Fisheries, Peru (Bronze Award 2005)
Activities for phases two and three of our project have been completed successfully and preliminary results look very promising. We were able to hold 15 talks and seminars with fishermen, fishing authorities, technical schools for fishermen and young researchers.

Integrated Approach Toward Giant Otter Conservation, Bolivia (Follow-up Award 2003)
We are in the giant otter season. All rivers in Bolivia are full, and some are inundating outside their natural borders; therefore, the giant otters are spread all over the floodplain and are difficult to trace at this time of year.

Read more about projects in Latin America and the Caribbean...

Programme Alumni: Where are they now?

Catching Up With Milagros Lopez, Project Karumbe, Uruguay

Milagros Lopez Mendilaharsu began working with sea turtles in Uruguay in 1999. Her team was the first to gather data and conduct interviews about sea turtles in the country, despite the fact that many dead turtles could be found, presumably victims of fisheries. “And we won a gold award, and that was for us the first, most important thing. It wasn’t a lot of money but it helped us so much. We were able to go all along the coast trying to collect data from interviews, [and get] more people, other NGOs involved, and make connections.”

Read More...

Final Reports Received

These recently concluded projects have had some exciting results. For a copy of the full report, send an email request to bp-conservation-programme@birdlife.org.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1223.277.318.

Project Websites

Check out project websites for updated news and images from award winning teams in the field: