This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP), offering an opportunity to celebrate, reflect and build on CLP’s remarkable record of fostering biodiversity conservation through leadership development.
CLP awardees in 2002 carrying out an invertebrate survey in the Ventania Mountains, Argentina © Valdemar Delhey
A career ‘launch pad’ for thousands of emerging local leaders
Since 1985, the CLP partnership of three world-renowned conservation organisations – BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora and the Wildlife Conservation Society – has supported conservationists from early in their careers to lead vital work protecting some of the world’s most threatened species.
Many of the 4,400 leaders supported by CLP in 109 countries worldwide have described its transformative effect on their careers. “Gaining CLP support was the turning point of my personal and professional life,” says Kanchana Weerakoon, who, as an undergraduate student, assisted one of the first CLP-supported projects: a 1997 expedition surveying the biodiverse and then mostly unexplored rainforests of Sri Lanka.
A subsequent 30-year career has seen Kanchana gain ongoing support from CLP and other international organisations, allowing her to establish the long-running Sri Lankan NGO, Eco-Friendly Volunteers (Eco-V), which for over 25 years has mobilised local community actions promoting sustainable living and biodiversity conservation.
CLP alumna Kanchana Weerakoon established the NGO, Eco-Friendly Volunteers (Eco-V) in Sri Lanka that works to mobilise community actions to benefit nature © Kanchana Weerakoon
To achieve its vision of a world protected by diverse and capable conservation leaders, CLP identifies and supports talented and emerging conservationists like Kanchana who are leading priority projects in their own countries, where their local knowledge and connections benefit the implementation of tangible, long-term conservation solutions.
Futureproofing conservation through leadership development
CLP provides these leaders with project funding as well as specialised training, mentorship and continuous professional development to equip them with the resources and capabilities they need to effectively address global conservation challenges. Kanchana’s story is one of many showing the impact of this full suite of support – not just on the careers of emerging leaders but also on biodiversity conservation. With this support, CLP leaders are shaping government policies and mobilising community actions.
Many alumni have attributed CLP training and networking to shaping their leadership development. For example, CLP alum Alberto Campos, co-founder and Director of NGO Aquasis Brazil and 2025 Indianapolis Prize Finalist, said: “As an emerging conservationist, the CLP training and networking helped me understand the conservation process and develop a much more integrated vision for long-term projects.”
He adds: “The stepwise funding and the long-term support are unique to CLP, and considering all the above together, from my experience, this makes CLP one of the most important conservation partnerships in the world.”
CLP alumni Weber Silva (left) and Alberto Campos film a documentary in 2004 to raise awareness about Araripe manakin conservation in Brazil © AQUASIS
From early-career support, and beyond
CLP provides support to early-career leaders through its flagship annual small-grant scheme, the CLP Team Awards, along with Career Placements (formerly known as internships), and Conservation Management & Leadership (CML) training. The specialised CML training – a largely participatory workshop organised by CLP each year for the current cohort of award-winners – provides training in topics not usually covered in academic settings, such as Project Planning and Fundraising, Communications, Behaviour Change, and Leadership. It has been described by participants as “A training that all early-career conservationists must do” and a “transformative experience.”
Participants of CLP’s 2024 Conservation Management & Leadership (CML) workshop in Rwanda © Bertrand Mahirwe / Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
These core activities provide valuable foundational support for early-career leaders. Yet CLP support extends far beyond this. Ongoing peer-to-peer mentorship, and further funding and training opportunities exclusively offered to CLP alumni, enable continuous leadership development. Within this context, it is perhaps not surprising that 91% of CLP leaders responding to a recent survey (N=700) reported to still be working in conservation 10 years after first receiving CLP backing, and 98% said that this support was important for their subsequent career.
Four decades of conservation impact
Over the course of their subsequent careers, CLP leaders have made significant breakthroughs in conservation, as testified by CLP alum Caleb Ofori-Boateng, Founder and Executive Director of NGO, Herp Conservation Ghana: “One of the frog species I discovered was part of our first CLP project [in 2010], and our second CLP project [in 2013] enabled us to establish a refuge for the Togo slippery frog and other threatened wildlife in Ghana. Our third CLP award [in 2021] allowed us to carry out habitat restoration in the refuge and has supported the expansion of our conservation work into Togo.”
CLP alum Caleb Ofori-Boateng led three vital projects focused on the conservation of the Critically Endangered Togo slippery frog in Ghana © Herp Conservation Ghana
Another notable example is that of the greater adjutant stork in Assam, India. Known locally as ‘Hargila’ (meaning ‘bone-swallower’ in Assamese), this stork was once believed to carry disease and bring bad omens, but has now become a symbol of pride in the region thanks to the mobilisation of community actions backed by CLP in 2009, 2012 and 2015 and other subsequent initiatives, with the species ultimately downlisted from Endangered to Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List in 2023.
Project leader, Purnima Devi Barman, has subsequently received various awards recognizing these extraordinary accomplishments including the 2017 Nari Shakti Puraskar (India’s highest civilian award for women); a Whitley Gold Award in 2024; and Time Magazine’s Women of the Year 2025.
Speaking about CLP, Purnima said: “CLP nurtures conservationists … to the point where their work is achieving real impact on the ground and recognition at a national and international level.”
CLP alumna Purnima Devi Barman pioneered work to protect the endangered greater adjutant stork in India, including a movement of thousands of women contributing to the preservation of this iconic species and its habitat © Purnima Devi Barman
Mobilising action for tangible solutions
Aside from these specific stories, the overall numbers speak for themselves: since 1985, CLP leaders have established 126 new NGOs all focused on nature preservation, and discovered or rediscovered 130 new species, such as the Supatá golden frog in Colombia and the Munduruku marmoset in Brazil.
The Munduruku marmoset was discovered by a team of CLP alumni led by Rodrigo Costa Araújo © Marlyson Costa
CLP leaders have also contributed to the creation of 75 protected areas. This includes Guyana’s first-ever Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, the South-Central Rupununi, established in large part based on long-term data collected on endangered red siskins by a CLP-supported team. Another example is the implementation of a management plan for Brazil’s largest federal coastal marine protected area, the Costa dos Corais, which included zoning areas to protect coral reefs created through CLP-supported projects. And in China, the results of a CLP project on migratory stopover points for threatened shorebirds along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf played a crucial role in securing the inscription of the area as a World Heritage Site.
CLP alum Leroy Ignacio (left), president and founding member of the South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS) in Guyana training local rangers © SRCS
Building on a 40-year legacy
After commemorating our 40th anniversary by launching a new strategy, brand identity and website, CLP’s focus is now to ensure the long-term sustainability of the support we offer emerging leaders, while continuing to foster a collaborative and inclusive global community. We call on our partners and supporters to work together so we can effectively and responsibly nurture and support the next generation of innovative conservation leaders capable of driving sustainable positive impact.
Watch the video commemorating CLP’s 40th anniversary below:
CLP is grateful to our generous supporters for making our work possible: the Hempel Foundation, the Rufford Foundation, the March Conservation Fund, Fondation Segré and Arcadia – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.
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