Think about your career to date. Who has had the greatest impact on your work? Was it a close friend, an adviser, or even a renowned scholar? There are many young conservationists with the drive and desire to make a difference, but few who have access to experts in their field of study who can guide and support their work.

With our annual CLP Conservation Awards, over 100 young conservationists are given the opportunity to take their career to the next level by implementing short-term projects.

This year we received over 300 applications from which 30 projects will be selected. But for all eligible applicants who apply, we will provide feedback from expert reviewers so they can hone their projects and secure funding. We are able to do this through the support of volunteer reviewers.

Many of you have reviewed for CLP in the past and we hope you will review again this year. As a reviewer, you have the opportunity to help early career conservationists get on the right track and grow professionally. 

To those who have not reviewed and would like to participate, we welcome your contribution, so please email us (clp@birdlife.org) and let us know your areas of expertise. You never know – your advice could have a lasting impact.

Thanks to the input of our reviewers, the CLP has supported some excellent projects and individuals. I hope you enjoy reading some of the conservation success stories from across the globe in this issue of the newsletter.

Robyn Dalzen
Executive Manager

Out of her comfort zone - Cynthia Layusa

Five years ago, Cynthia didn't realise that there was such a thing as a career in conservation. Now, she is well on the way to becoming a leader in the sector, with experience and qualifications to prove it!

In an interview with the CLP she tells us about her work to conserve the Calayan rail and the risks, challenges and rewards when working in remote parts of the Philippines.

Anirban Dutta Gupta wins a Panda Award for his film "Ganga: Ribbon of Life" at the 2012 Wildscreen Film Festival! Read more.

Mohammad Farhadinia wins Panterha's 2012 Rabinowitz-Kaplan Prize for the Next Generation in Wild Cat Conservation. Read more.

Kanchana Weerakoon wins a 2012 Eisenhower Fellowship, representing South Asia. Read more.

9-12 Dec 2012: Second Indian Biodiversity Congress, Bengaluru, India

4 Jan 2013: CLP Alumni Travel Grant deadline

21-31 Jan 2013: Student Conference on Conservation Science, Brisbane, Australia

2-8 Feb 2013: 33rd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation

12-15 Feb 2013: Capacity Building for Conservation Conference, Villa de Leyva, Colombia

19-21 Mar 2013: Student Conference on Conservation Science, Cambridge, UK

4 April 2013: CLP Alumni Travel Grant deadline

21-25 July 2013: 26th International Congress for Conservation Biology

New species of frog discovered in India	Pangolin Specialist Group website launched
First bush dog recorded in Brazil state	Notes from the field

• 2009: Conservation Planning for Tropical Dry Ecosystems of Cucuta, Colombia

• 2009: Reducing Threats to the Endemic Cochabamba Mountain-Finch, Bolivia

• 2010: Participative Research On Biodiversity in (R.O.B.IN) Uruguayan artisanal red-shrimp fishery

• 2010: The Effect of Fragmentation and Climate Change on Amphibian Assemblage in the South Western Ghats, India

• 2010: Angola's Central Scarp Forests: Threatened Bird Habitats and Human Impact

• 2010: Conservation Assessment of Amphibians in Tama Bi-National Park, Colombia-Venezuela

• 2010: Strengthening Vulture Safe Zones in Nawalparasi, Nepal

• 2010: Survey of Three Potential Important Bird Areas in Collaboration with Students in Uzbekistan

• 2010: Conservation of the Critically Endangered Frog, Conraua Derooi, in Ghana

• 2010: Assessing Human Impacts on Threatened Freshwater Cetaceans in Bangladesh

• 2010: Status and Ecology of the Sokoke Pipit in Zaraninge Forest, Tanzania

Read final report summaries

Abraham, R.K., Kelkar, N. (2012) Do terrestrial protected areas conserve freshwater fish diversity? Results from the Western Ghats of India. Oryx, 46: 544-553. doi:10.1017/S0030605311000937

Terrestrial protected areas are often designated in inaccessible high elevation regions, and usually targeted towards conservation of charismatic large mammals and birds. It has been suggested that such protected areas, with partial coverage of riverine habitats, may not be adequate for conservation of freshwater taxa such as fishes. Also, protected areas are often designated in upstream catchments of dam reservoirs, and conservation of freshwater biodiversity is usually not a priority. We investigated the importance of existing protected areas for conservation of stream fishes within and across three dammed and two undammed rivers in the southern Western Ghats, India (a global biodiversity hotspot)…

Furman, A., Çoraman, E., Nagy, Z. L., Postawa, T., Bilgin, R., Gajewska, M. and Bogdanowicz, W. (2012) Phylogeography of the large Myotis bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Europe, Asia Minor, and Transcaucasia. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.01994.x

The large Myotis complex in continental Europe, Asia Minor, and Transcaucasia comprises two sibling bat species, the greater mouse-eared bat, Myotis myotis, and the lesser mouse-eared bat, Myotis blythii, also referred to as Myotis oxygnathus. Here, we investigate the phylogeography of these bats using two mitochondrial markers: the second hypervariable domain of the control region (HVII) and a fragment of the cytochrome b gene (cyt b). The HVII haplotypes formed six distinct haplogroups associated with different geographical regions. Most of the European HVII haplotypes were exclusive to M. myotis, whereas the majority of HVII haplotypes found in Asia Minor were exclusive to M. blythii/M. oxygnathus…

Shamana, S.K., Vasudeva, G.K., Anantharam, A.N. (2012) A new species of Raorchestes (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from mid-elevation evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats, India. Zootaxa, 3410: 19–34

A new species of the shrub frog genus Raorchestes Biju, Souche, Dubois, Dutta and Bossuyt is described as Raorchestes kakachi sp. nov. from Agastyamalai hill region in the southern Western Ghats, India. The small sized Raorchestes (male: 24.7–25.8 mm, n = 3 and female: 24.3–34.1 mm, n = 3) is distinguished from all other known congeners by the following suite of characters. Snout oval in dorsal view; tympanum indistinct; head wider than long; moderate webbing in feet; colour on dorsum varying from ivory to brown, blotches of dark brown on flanks, brown mottling on throat reducing towards vent; inner and outer surface of thigh, inner surface of shank and inner surface of tarsus with a distinct dark brown horizontal band which extends up to first three toes on upper surface. A detailed description, advertisement call features, ecology, natural history notes and comparison with closely related species are provided for the new species.

Shirley, M.H., Dorazio, R.M., Sbassery, E., Elhady, A.A, Mekki, M.S., Asran, H.H. (2012) A Sampling Design and Model for Estimating Abundance of Nile Crocodiles While Accounting for Heterogeneity of Detectability of Multiple Observers. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 76(5):966–975. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.348

As part of the development of a management program for Nile crocodiles in Lake Nasser, Egypt, we used a dependent double-observer sampling protocol with multiple observers to compute estimates of population size. To analyze the data, we developed a hierarchical model that allowed us to assess variation in detection probabilities among observers and survey dates, as well as account for variation in crocodile abundance among sites and habitats. We conducted surveys from July 2008–June 2009 in 15 areas of Lake Nasser that were representative of 3 main habitat categories. During these surveys, we sampled 1,086 km of lake shore wherein we detected 386 crocodiles. Analysis of the data revealed significant variability in both inter- and intra-observer detection probabilities…

Ten, A., Roman Kashkarov, R., Matekova, G., Zholdasova, I., & Turaev, M. (2012) Akpetky lakes, Sarykamysh lake, Ayakaghytma lake, and their desert surrounds: three new Important Bird Areas in Uzbekistan. Sandgrouse, 34(2): 137-147

This article includes main results of CLP-SOS project 2010 “Survey of 3 potential Important Bird Areas in collaboration with students in Uzbekistan”. The IBAs are areas of significant importance for the conservation of birds and biodiversity in general. In the issue of the project were conducted surveys on 4 areas in collaboration with students from 5 Universities, and 3 of them were implemented by BirdLife Secretariat on 2011 as Important Bird Areas (IBAs).

See a full list of recent alumni publications

Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan | Bat Census in Crimean Caves (Ukraine) | Birds-Indonesia | Community-based Conservation of Lake Kuyucuk, Kars (Turkey) | Community Centered Conservation (C3 - Comoros) | Community Forest Buffer (India) | Conservacion Argentina | Ecology and Conservation of the Chilean Dolphin | EcoLeague (Russia) | EcoMuseum (Kazakhstan) | Fundación Conserva (Colombia) | Giant Otter Conservation (Bolivia) | Katala Foundation (Philippines) | Mabuwaya Foundation (Philippines) | Macedonian Ecological Society | Madagasikara Voakajy | Marsh Deer Project (Argentina) | Mpingo Conservation Project (Tanzania) | Nature Conservation Foundation (India) | Nature Iraq | ProDelphinus (Peru) | Project Hapalopsittaca (Colombia) | Project Karumbé (Uruguay) | Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (Russia) | Seabirds Argentina | Sea to Shore Alliance (USA) | Soul of the Andes (Argentina) | Strizh Ecological Centre (Russia) | Turtle Conservation & Research Programme (India) | WildlifeDirect (Kenya)