Awards
Future for Nature Award 2013
Prestigious Future for Nature Awards presented by Jane Goodall
Three talented young nature conservationists, Samia Saif (Bangladesh), Rudi H. Putra (Indonesia) and Lucy King (Kenya), received the Future for Nature Award 2013 in Burgers’ Zoo, the Netherlands, on Friday 22 February 2013. Each of the winners also received prize money of 50,000 euro’s to continue their work. Dr Jane Goodall presented the prizes in front of an audience of more than 500 invited guests.
Call to action from Jane Goodall
‘Every individual can make a difference, every day again’, said Goodall in her inspiring speech to the audience and winners. ‘Please think about the choices you make, because everything you do as a human being has an influence on other human beings, animals and nature’. Besides making this appeal, she praised the winners as examples to the next generation of nature conservationists.
Future for Nature supports young, talented and ambitious conservationists committed to protecting species of wild animals and plants. The commitment of these individuals is what will make the difference for the future of nature. Through their leadership they inspire and mobilize communities, organizations, governments, investors and the public at large.
St Andrews Prize for the Environment 2013
An innovative project developed from the behavioural discovery that honey bees can be used as a natural deterrent to crop raiding elephants, has won this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment. At a ceremony in the University of St Andrews today, Dr Lucy King was presented with the winning prize of $100,000 USD. Lucy says: ‘I am delighted with this win. The recognition and financial support will enable us to expand our vital research work and protect many more rural farming families from elephant invasions.’
The St Andrews Prize for the Environment is an environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews, which attracts scholars of international repute and carries out world-class teaching and research, and international exploration and production company ConocoPhillips.
Sir Crispin Tickell, Chairman of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment Trustees, says: ‘The Prize continues to go from strength to strength. It is now in its fifteenth year and we are delighted that is has become so well established and continues to attract such a range of innovative projects from all over the world. We are looking for entrepreneurs on behalf of the environment, people able to come forward with original, innovative and realistic ideas which can be replicated elsewhere, and take full account of the social and economic implications.’
Professor Louise Richardson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews says: ‘For centuries this university has educated young people motivated by a desire to improve the world around them. We are proud to be at the cutting edge of the field of sustainability and environmental studies and to support, through the St Andrews Prize for the Environment, the current generation of creative thinkers designing solutions to today’s problems.’
‘By sponsoring the St Andrews Prize for the Environment, ConocoPhillips is creating a path to a more secure and environmentally conscious energy supply for future generations. This forum lets us recognise groups and individuals with innovative environmental ideas and gives us the opportunity to focus on developing and sustaining their life changing projects,’ says David Chenier, President UK for ConocoPhillips.
UNEP/CMS Thesis Award 2011 Goes to Researcher on African Elephants
Bonn, 20 September 2011 – The British biologist Dr Lucy E. King is the winner of the UNEP/CMS Thesis Award 2011. At a meeting in the Zoological Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, the Jury voted with a vast majority in favour of this highly innovative thesis that recommends a natural deterrent to African Elephants.
She submitted her thesis on “The interaction between the African elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) and the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) and its potential application as an elephant deterrent” to Oxford University in 2010. As elephants migrate over large distances, they are confronted with fences and human settlements, which constrain their migration.
By raiding crops and tearing down man made barriers, elephants might pose a threat to local populations. African Honeybees might act as a deterrent to elephants to avoid conflicts between the largest terrestrial mammals and humans. Dr King’s research focuses on the response of the giant African Elephant to the tiny honey bees. Based on the standard behavioural pattern of elephants when interacting with bees, she developed a device to prevent elephants from causing damage.
The members of the jury coming from international research institutes agreed that among the 14 top candidates for the Award, this thesis was unique in its approach. It is considered as a valuable contribution to reconciling prevailing conflicts between elephants and local people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.