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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL SALUTES WINNERS OF "GREEN" OSCARS LONDON, England, May 3, 2004 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- HRH The Princess Royal announced the six winners of the UK's top conservation prize - the Whitley Awards - to a packed audience at the Royal Geographical Society in London on April 29. Each year these prestigious awards have grown in value and number from £15,000 when they started in 1993 up to £940,000 this year as additional donors contribute prizes. The Awards recognise the most outstanding conservation work by individuals around the world fighting to safeguard the planet's resources and wildlife. The Winner of the Whitley Gold Award - the top award worth £60,000 is Randall Arauz of Costa Rica. The goal of this campaigning environmentalist is to stem the collapse of shark numbers off Costa Rica in the eastern Pacific. Arauz is focusing on the practise of cutting off sharks' fins and throwing the shark back into the sea. His work has already been highly instrumental in the protection of other endangered marine species such as turtles and dolphins. "The commitment and dedication of all our Whitley Award finalists is humbling and inspiring. We short-listed 8 finalists who have joined us in London for this week from as far afield as the Gobi Desert in Mongolia; the Pacific Islands; Costa Rica and Africa. They are all fighting to save wildernesses from being ruined; wildlife from being driven to extinction. They have achieved remarkable successes. Each has overcome daunting obstacles to emerge as national champions in their countries," said Edward Whitley, founder of the Whitley Awards and Chairman of the Whitley Laing Foundation. "Arauz, our Gold Award winner, has led a life which spans being a scientist researching turtles; to a tour guide; to saving turtles on the beaches, to seeing turtles decimated offshore and then realising that the long line fishing which has killed 90% of the turtles is also destroying the shark populations. "He can talk to anyone ranging from the local fishermen to the fishing companies to the President of Costa Rica. He is poised to broaden his work down the coast to Salvador and Guatemala. He has done the science, knows his facts and has campaigned to change the fishing laws," he added. Five other winners also received awards of £30,000 each. They include:
Jargal Jamsranjav, Mongolia: Jamsranjav is working to protect areas of the world's last great wildernesses, the Gobi desert. She is helping to train its herders to become guardians of the environment by monitoring wildlife themselves and developing conservation initiatives. Dr Rodrigo Medellin, Mexico: Medellin's mission is to save the bat not just in his native Mexico but throughout Latin America. Bats play a crucial role in protecting ecosystems and are allies to both agriculture and rural development, yet over 25% of bat species are endangered. Alifereti Tawake, Fiji: Tawake's innovative approach to reversing the decline in his country's marine resources is paying dividends. So successful has this been in pilot areas that the government is now considering returning control of all its 410 traditional fishing areas to local control. Ka Hsaw Wa, Burma: Co-founder of Earthrights International, Ka Hsaw Wa has been fighting for many years to expose human rights and environmental abuses in Burma. In 1999 he helped set up the Earthrights college in Thailand to train indigenous people in the skills needed to protect their rights and the environment. Visit the Sea Turtle Restoration Project website: http://www.seaturtles.org Note to Editors: For further information including speeches, photos of the award winnersı work and further background on the Whitley Awards, please go to the website: www.whitleyaward.org |
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