Executive Manager's Message

The end of the year is fast approaching and the holidays are nearly upon us. As we look to the year ahead and beyond, I'm very pleased to announce that BP has renewed its commitment to support the CLP with another three-year grant agreement. This is significant for the program and provides us with the security to continue our work at a time when conservation efforts are needed more than ever. We are very grateful to have this support as we continue to seek out and cultivate young leaders who are working to ensure a sustainable future for all of us.

We continue to make progress toward our aim of building the capacity of emerging conservation professionals. In 2011 we funded 30 new projects in 19 countries, including first-time projects in the countries of Belize and Macedonia. We trained a member from 26 of these teams in June at our annual international training course, which was held near Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. In addition to our international course, we also offered several short courses in select regions where we have a strong program and partner presence.

The short courses included two courses on writing for conservation publications (Colombia and Kenya), a proposal writing course (Kenya), and a course on statistics for biological monitoring (Kazakhstan). It is clear that there is a great need for these types of courses where the CLP is working, and we hope to be able to make these courses available to more individuals in the coming year.

Before the year is over, we still have a number of important activities taking place. We have just closed our call for applications for 2012 Conservation Awards and we received nearly 250 proposals. After an initial screening for eligibility, we will be reaching out to many of you to seek your expert feedback in reviewing proposals. CLP relies on input from experts to ensure we are supporting teams and projects with highest conservation and capacity building potential. If you are interested in being a first-time reviewer, please contact us. If you have reviewed in the past, I hope we can count on your input again this year.

In the coming weeks, members of the CLP team will be attending the International Congress for Conservation Biology in Auckland, New Zealand. At the meeting, 25 CLP alumni will be presenting the results of their conservation projects at this renowned congress, where there are expected to be over 1,000 participants. There are plenty more exciting things happening in the field and I hope you will read the updates we have received from some of the project teams. And to keep on top of CLP developments and news, please do like us on Facebook.

All of us at the Conservation Leadership Programme are looking forward to continued collaboration with you in the coming year. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season.

Robyn Dalzen
Executive Manager

CLP regional training courses in Kazakhstan and Kenya

CLP intern helps with new Protected Area in Romania

New Marine Protected Area in Uruguay

CLP launches new social networking site for alumni on NING

5-9 Dec 2011 International Congress for Conservation Biology, Auckland, New Zealand. Early registration closes 2 September.

5 Jan 2012 CLP Alumni Travel Grant deadline.

20-22 March 2012 Student Conference on Conservation Science, Cambridge, UK.

15-18 July 2012 SCB's North American Congress for Conservation Biology, California, USA.

28 Aug-1 Sept 3rd European Congress of Conservation Biology, Glasgow, Scotland.

6-15 Sept 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress, Jeju, Korea.

14-21 Oct 2012 13th Pan-African Ornithological Congress, Arusha, Tanzania.

News from the Field

Team Awards are granted to teams of three or more individuals who are undertaking high-priority conservation projects. The awards are arranged in a tiered system to allow for progression and include the Future Conservationist Award, Conservation Follow-up Award and Conservation Leadership Award.

AFRICA
Promoting Conservation Measures of the Critically Endangered Ader’s duiker in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in Kenya (2011)
Through the CLP Learning Exchange Programme, team members from this project received training on the use of camera trapping as an ecological tool from Dr. Tim O’Brien, a senior research scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society based at Mpala Research Center in Kenya.

Read more about this project in Africa...

ASIA/PACIFIC
Wintering Ecology of Hooded Cranes at Chongming Dongtan (2008)

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) is a Critically Endangered migratory bird listed in the IUCN Red List since 2008. Estimates of their population size declined from 2000 – 2800 pairs in the 1970s to not more than 150 – 320 pairs in 2008. The Rudong Spoon-billed Sandpiper Survey Group of the China Coastal Waterbird Census Team has surveyed the Spoon-billed Sandpipers in Rudong, east China, since 2010.

For Sustainable Recovery of Grey-shanked Douc Monkeys in Vietnam (2010)
The aim of this project is to conserve the largest population of grey-shanked douc monkeys in the Kon Ka Kinh National Park, Vietnam. The project focuses on training local rangers and involving them in a primate monitoring programme in addition to raising awareness on grey-shanked douc monkeys for children at the local schools.

Developing a Community Forest Buffer for the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, India (2007)
The CLP team was of the opinion that incentive based conservation initiatives can achieve significant impact over the long term if sustainability issues are addressed while forming management agreements with the communities. They engaged with the community to sustainably harvest medicinal plants, pilot an ecotourism trip, and undertake land restoration.

Assessing Tiger Translocations in Sumatra, Indonesia (2009)
A female tiger was translocated over Jantho into Blangraweu forest on the edge of Mane village after an incident that killed several cattle in Jantho. The team used this tiger as the focal point of the project – to assess the suitability of this area as a translocation site.

Read more about projects in Asia/Pacific...

EURASIA
Conservation of the Critically Endangered Endemic Darevsky’s Viper in Lake Arpi National Park, NW Armenia (2005, 2007, 2011)
The CLP team submitted a full package describing the Darevsky’s viper habitats and range to the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia. As a result, the range of 5408 ha comprising the western slopes of the Javakheti Ridge was incorporated into the Lake Arpi National Park’s reserve zone.

Ensuring Long-term Protection of Rare Endemic Plants at Lake Baikal, Russia (2008, 2011)
Many project activities have been completed during the summer period. The monitoring program for rare plants started in June. It was carried out with local school-kids, local teachers, students, and volunteers. Twice a month for the whole summer, the team collected information about the condition of rare plant populations at the project sites. Results of this study showed that populations of all species are in stable condition.

CHAGRA'2010: Enhancing Conservation of the Chalk Grasslands in Ukraine (2010)
The CLP team has gotten a lot of exciting feedback after finishing work with schoolchildren and their teachers at the Chalk Hills in May and June. The Center of Children’s Creativity in Dvourechnaya town, an organization uniting kids and teenagers of different interests, asked the team to help their students. The team decided to take the most interested teenagers with a teacher on the expeditions and involve them with the research activities.

Read more about projects in Eurasia...

LATIN AMERICA
Araripe Manakin Conservation Center, Brazil (2004, 2007, 2010)
December 15th, 2011 will mark fifteen years since the discovery of the Araripe Manakin. Before two ornithologists with keen ears and lots of field experience in the region noted its novel voice, the bird was unknown not only to science, but also to most of the people living closest to its domain. In this short time the bird has become globally recognized as being among the most threatened species in the world and one of the first birds endemic to Brazil to be the focus of an extensive conservation action plan.

Read more about this project in Latin America...

MIDDLE EAST
Conserving Wild Goats (Capra aegagrus) at Peramagroon Mountain & Barzan Area, Iraq (2011)
For the first time, the Nature Iraq CLP team has been able to make direct observations of wild goats and photograph these animals in both Qara Dagh and Peramagroon Mountains.

Read more about this project in Middle East...

CLP Alumni: Where Are They Now?

A Life on the Ocean Waves – Joanna Alfaro

Joanna Alfaro clearly recalls the day when she became interested in the natural world. A fascination with pictures of birds combined with her love of the outdoors proved to be the inspiration for a very successful conservation career to date.

Read more...

Final Reports

These recently concluded projects have had some exciting results. To download a pdf copy of a project report, click on the links below.

Project Websites

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