Credit: Laura Dinraths

In our 30^th year of awarding project funding, I am very pleased to announce the recipients of 2014 Conservation Team Awards! Competition was tough as ever and applications went through several review stages before the CLP Award Selection Committee granted 26 projects from 16 countries a total of $450,000. And for the first time, CLP will be supporting a project in the Caribbean Islands of Antigua & Barbuda.

Of these 26 projects, 21 will receive Future Conservationist Awards – our first-tier award for emerging conservationists; 4 projects will receive a Conservation Follow-up Award, and 1 project will receive our top award – a Conservation Leadership Award.

This year’s Leadership Award, worth $50,000, goes to C3’s "Dugongs for Life" project in Madagascar. Building on two previous CLP grants, this project will work to safeguard marine biodiversity through community-based conservation action and livelihood development in the Nosy Hara Marine Park region. Project Leader Lalarisoa Rakotoarimino writes, “This project will help to conserve not just dugongs, but also other endangered species including sea turtles and sharks, as well as critical habitats such as mangroves, seagrass and coral reefs.”

In addition to project funding, all team members from award-winning projects will become members of CLP’s Alumni Network whereby they can access additional resources, individual grants, training and mentoring opportunities and connect with other CLP award winners.

Many thanks to our dedicated reviewers and Awards Selection Committee who helped us narrow in on top proposals and provided feedback to our applicants. This year we had more than 300 individuals contribute to the proposal review process! For the first time, applicants also had the chance to receive guidance from “CLP Ambassadors” – 26 previous CLP award-winners who volunteered their time to offer advice and mentoring to new applicants.

We look forward to meeting some of our grantees at our annual two-week Conservation Management & Leadership Training Workshop, which will take place in the Canadian Rockies this June. As they embark on their projects, we will be sure to keep you informed of their conservation successes via our newsletter and website. In the meantime, enjoy reading updates below from CLP alumni who have success stories to share following CLP support.

Robyn Dalzen
CLP Director

Supriya Jhunjhunwala, Project Advisor at GIZ (the German Development Cooperation) and member of the CLP Alumni Network since 2008, tells us about her career to date conserving India's threatened birds and coastal environment and the steps she is taking to help accomplish her professional ambitions. 

Juliana López Angarita (2009, Colombia) co-founded a Colombian based NGO -Talking Oceans.

Caleb Ofori Boateng (2010, 2013, Ghana) received a 2014 Future for Nature Award worth €50,000!

Joni Acay (2012, Philippines) joined the Mabuwaya Foundation to conduct biodiversity surveys.

Diogo Veríssimo (2008, India) has been awarded a 2014 Smith Fellowship.

Yufang Gao (2008, China) was invited to the African Elephant Summit as an IUCN Youth Ambassador.

The Soul of Andes (2001, 2003, 2009, Argentina) has been awarded a $25,000 grant by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund.

Read more!

12-16 May 2014: 3rd International Climate Change Adaptation Conference - Brazil

13-16 July 2014: North American Congress for Conservation Biology - USA

9-11 July 2014: Oceania 2014: Resilient Island Ecosystem Communities - Fiji

20-24 July 2014: 51st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation - Australia

14-18 Aug 2014: International Marine Conservation Congress - Scotland

19-22 Aug 2014: 3rd SCB Asia Regional Conference - Malaysia

18-24 Aug 2014: 26th International Ornithological Congress - Japan

1-4 Sept 2014: UN Conference on Small Island Developing States - Samoa

5-11 Oct 2014: International Union of Forest Research Organizations World Congress - USA

12-19 Nov 2014: IUCN World Parks Congress - Australia

Marine life finds a safe haven in S. Chile	Anglers in Argentina conserve sharks in MPAs
2013 CLP Annual Report published	Turtle be my valentine!

Conservation Status of the Montane Slender Loris in Horton Plains National Park, Sri Lanka (2006)

Improving Fledgling Recruitment and Habitat Quality for the Yellow-shouldered Parrot at Margarita island, Venezuela (2007)

Conservation of the Caatinga Howler Monkey, Brazil (2009)

Threat Assessment and Conservation of Sclater's Monal, Mt. Gaoligong, China (2009)

YARE II: Yariguíes Assessment and Research of Endangered species (2010) 

For Sustainable Recovery of Grey-Shanked Douc Monkeys in Vietnam (2010)

Facilitating Avian Conservation in Post-logging Lowland Rainforest of Sumatra, Indonesia (2010)

Building Capacity to Manage Watershed Impacts on the Belize Barrier Reef (2011)

From Fish Spawning Aggregations to Effective Marine Protected Areas in Brazil (2011) 

Conserving Threatened Polylepis Forest to Maintain Ecosystem Services in Bolivia (2011)

Conserving Endemic and Globally Threatened Fishes in Lake Manguao, Palawan (2011)

Building the Capacity of Local Institutions to Lead Seabird Conservation Initiatives in Peru (2011)

Building Marine Conservation Capacity of Fishing Communities in Fiji (2012)

Conserving the Endangered Himalayan Grey Langur in India's Chamba Valley (2012)

Read final report summaries here!

Douglas, L. R., & Veríssimo, D. (2013). Flagships or Battleships: Deconstructing the Relationship between Social Conflict and Conservation Flagship Species.. Environment and Society: Advances in Research, 4(1): 98-116. doi:10.3167/ares.2013.040107.

Flagship species, common components of conservation programs, are frequently implicated in social conflicts. This article examines the roles of flagships in conflicts including their part in human-wildlife conflicts and as symbols of broader sociopolitical disputes. The article shows that the relationship between the co-occurrence of conflict and flagship species, while complex, illuminates important patterns and lessons that require further attention. The article focuses on the most iconic flagships and discusses why they are shrouded in controversy in which their meaning, value, and place are contested. It argues that the process of socially constructing animals as iconic symbols often entangles them in conflict, and saturates them with conflict agency. The article recommends that the deployment of flagships should institutionalize analyses of their symbolic meaning as an conflict-management approach.

López-Angarita, J., Moreno-Sánchez, R., Maldonado, J. H. and Sánchez, J. A. (2013), Evaluating linked social–ecological systems in Marine Protected Areas. Conservation Letters. doi: 10.1111/conl.12063

In view of current worldwide coral reef decline, and the shortcomings of traditional top-down management schemes of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), decision makers and scientists face the important challenge of developing new approaches to generate effective conservation strategies. This study evaluates MPAs as linked social–ecological systems (SES) to inform better management by calculating indices for ecological health, social adaptive capacity, and the impact intensity of overfishing, pollution, and tourism. A series of ecological and socioeconomic indicators are used to estimate these indices and determine relevant conservation strategies in two protected areas in the Colombian Caribbean. Results reveal a precarious situation of high impact intensity combined with low ecological health and adaptive capacity. This study provides further evidence supporting the need for reconciliation of SES and a framework by which decision makers can assess priorities to increase MPA effectiveness. We highlight the need for system reorganization and recommend bottom-up comanagement schemes as a priority strategy to strengthen adaptive capacity.

Roberto, I.J., Brito, L.B.M., & Ávila, R.W. (2014). A new six-pored Amphisbaena (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from the coastal zone of northeast Brazil. Zootaxa: 3753(2): 167-176.

We describe a new species of reptile from the littoral of northeastern Brazil. This reptile is from a lineage of limbless fossorial animals, amphisbaenians, known as worm lizards. The new species, Amphisbaena littoralis, was described from the municipalities of Macau and Guamaré, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The species was found during a faunal rescue, during an earthwork procedure for the construction of a wind energy parks. This new find highlights the needs of conservation measure from this new species and reinforces the need of a monitoring program to measure the impact on the fossorial herpetofauna caused by these constructions, that have been happening all over Brazil.    

Zhang, L., Liu, J., Mcshea, W. J., Wu, Y., Wang, D. and Lü, Z. (2014), The impact of fencing on the distribution of Przewalski's gazelle. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 78: 255–263. doi: 10.1002/jwmg.653

The endangered Przewalski's gazelle (Procapra przewalskii) experienced severe habitat loss and population decline over the last century. Illegal hunting of gazelles has been largely prevented since 2002, leaving fencing of pastures as one of the main threats to the gazelle. We conducted surveys on 810 km of parallel transects on 8 gazelle-occupied sites and 4 nearby control sites where no gazelles were found, and evaluated the impact of fencing on gazelle distribution. A comparison of gazelle-occupied and control sites showed the former had a lower fence density and height, lower above ground biomass (EVI), and a longer distance to houses. Logistic regression indicated that the presence of gazelle feces on the 1 km segment of transect was negatively affected by the density of fences and the proportion of fences with barbed wire both in spring and summer. In addition, we found a negative effect from distance to houses in spring and from EVI in summer. Gazelles did not occur more on grasslands with greater vegetation biomass, possibly because of the association of greater vegetation biomass with greater fence density and proportion of barbed wires. Although removing fences can be costly, lowering the top barbed wire, as well as constructing special gates and seasonal use of existing gates, may be beneficial for this endangered species at minimal disruption to local people. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

See a full list of recent alumni publications.

Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity in Kazakhstan | Bat Census in Crimean Caves (Ukraine) | Birds-Indonesia | BirdLife Zimbabwe | 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) | Fundación CEBio (Argentina) | Giant Otter Conservation (Bolivia) | Guyra (Paraguay) | Jampatu - Conserving Bolivian Amphibians | Katala Foundation (Philippines) | Kuzeydoga (Turkey) | Life on Chalk (Ukraine) | Mabuwaya Foundation (Philippines) | Macedonian Ecological Society | Madagasikara Voakajy | Maio Biodiversity Foundation (Cape Verde) | Marsh Deer Project (Argentina) | Mpingo Conservation Project (Tanzania) | Nature Conservation Foundation (India) | Nature Iraq | Oycos (Venezuela) | ProDelphinus (Peru) | Project Hapalopsittaca (Colombia) | Project Karumbé (Uruguay) | Proyecto Washu (Ecuador) | Sakhalin Salmon Initiative (Russia) | Samoan Birds | Save the Frogs Ghana | Seabirds Argentina | Sea to Shore Alliance (USA) | Soul of the Andes (Argentina) | South Rupununi Conservation Society (Guyana) | Strizh Ecological Centre (Russia) | Tide Belize | Turtle Conservation & Research Programme (India) | WildlifeDirect (Kenya)