Programme Manager's Message

Welcome to the September issue of the CLP newsletter, and it is an edition bursting with more news than ever! This edition is a little later than usual as we have had so much going on, it has been hard to get it all down!

Firstly, we launched our new website at www.ConservationLeadershipProgramme.org. A few areas are still under development, but we hope it will eventually be much more user friendly for you, and its much easier for us to keep up to date!

In June and July we were in Chattanooga, Tennessee, meeting representatives from the 2008 CLP Award teams for our international training workshops. Topics covered included project planning, fundraising, behaviour change, education, communications and photography. Following the training, we all attended the Society for Conservation Biology Meeting, where we were delighted to be able to support a total of 47 alumni in attending. Everyone enjoyed and made the most of their stay in every way - by making connections and useful expert contacts, learning about new innovations, thinking through ideas, presenting their work, and making good friends. We’re already getting excited about next year’s International Congress for Conservation Biology which will be held from 11-16th July 2009 in Beijing, China (http://scb2009.ioz.ac.cn).

In August, Stuart Paterson joined the Programme as our Fauna & Flora International (FFI) programme co-ordinator, taking over from Paul Herbertson who moved into another job at FFI. Stu is responsible for putting together this e-newsletter, will look after our website, and will be involved in the range of capacity building activities the CLP is engaged is with. He comes with a wealth of experience having already been working at FFI for several years in the development team, and he speaks fluent Spanish.

Robyn and I are currently in Buenos Aires for the BirdLife World Conference. This is a gathering of the 108 national conservation organisations that make up the BirdLife International Network, plus their existing and potential collaborators and supporters. Afterwards, we will go to Misiones to visit the Green Corridor team supported by the first ever Kate Stokes Memorial Award, together with Kate’s family. We are looking forward to seeing how the agroecology visitor centre is developing and will be there for the official opening of ‘Kate’s Trail’ on the site.

Also important to note here is our upcoming awards deadline – 6th November 2008. We are offering Conservation Awards to applicants from Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey and Venezuela. Click here for more information.

Marianne Carter
Executive Manager CLP

5 – 9 October 2008 International Scientific Conference: Tropical Forests and Agroforests under Global Change, Bali, Indonesia

5 – 14 October 2008 World Conservation Congress , Barcelona, Spain

18 October 2008 Student Research in Plant Biology and Conservation Symposium , Chicago, USA

20 – 24 October 2008 European Forest Week, Rome, Italy

10 – 14 November 2008 Provoking Change: Strategies to Promote Forest Users in the Amazon, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

11 – 15 November 2008 World Conference on Marine Biodiversity , Valencia, Spain

20 – 21 November 2008 Halting the Global Decline in Amphibians: Research and Practice , London, UK

24 - 29 November 2008 VIII Latin American Herpetology Congress , Topes de Collantes, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

1 – 4 December 2008 International Invasive Bird Conference , Freemantle, Australia

8 – 12 January 2009 Fourth Biennial Conference of the International Biogeography Society , Mérida, Mexico

24 - 26 March 2009 10th Student Conference on Conservation Science , Cambridge, UK

New Endemic Bird Species in the Yariguíes Mountains, Colombia

Sir David Attenborough Champions Araripe Manakin Conservation

Video Footage of Cambodian Turtle Conservation Project on CNN

Gangetic Dolphin Declared Official Aquatic Animal of Assam, India

New Programme Established for Small Carnivores and Asian Pangolin, Vietnam

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.

Read about how CLP award-winning teams are getting on with their projects around the world.

UPDATES FROM AFRICA
Just two updates from Africa this edition of the newsletter, but well worth a read. The first update explains how an innovative new board game will promote Syrian Serin conservation in Lebanon, and the second provides a brief report on efforts to conserve African wild dogs in Mozambique.
To read full updates on these projects in Africa click here.

UPDATES FROM ASIA/ PACIFIC
There’s plenty to read about from CLP award winning teams in the ASIA/ Pacific region including:

Programme Alumni: Where are they now?

It was a week of firsts for Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) alumnus, Veronica Zambrana: her first time to travel outside of her home country, her first time to attend an international conference, her first time meeting conservationists from India, Egypt, and China. You might ask where one can have such an amazing week of firsts. Why, at the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) Annual Meeting, of course!

To read more about Veronica and her research work on giant river otters in Bolivia click here

Final Reports Received

These recently concluded projects have had some exciting results. For a copy of the full report, send an email request to clp@birdlife.org.

Project Websites

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