As headlines veer toward the apocalyptic – from collapsing ecosystems to vanishing species – it’s easy to believe the story is already over. But sometimes, the most important developments happen quietly: in wetlands, rainforests and remote plateaus, where people refuse to accept extinction as inevitable.
This year’s Whitley Award winners offer something rare: credible hope. Selected by the UK charity Whitley Fund for Nature, these seven grassroots conservationists – working across Rwanda, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia – are showing what’s still possible. Each receives funding, training and international visibility, not for grand gestures but for doing the daily work of restoration.
In Rwanda, Dr Olivier Nsengimana (pictured above, with HRH Princess Anne) is leading a remarkable comeback for the Grey Crowned Crane, a bird so integral to East Africa’s wetlands that its decline had come to symbolise broader environmental breakdown.
Nsengimana’s approach, which blends science with deep local engagement, has earned him the £100,000 Whitley Gold Award – funding he’ll use to push for region-wide protection of cranes and their habitats.
Biodiversity loss isn’t confined to what we can see and photograph
In Brazil, Dr Yara Barros (above, with Princess Anne) is helping jaguar populations rebound in Iguaçu National Park by working with communities to shift long-held fears into coexistence strategies.
Meanwhile, in Argentina’s volcanic Somuncura Plateau, Dr Federico Kacoliris (photo below) is expanding protections for the critically endangered El Rincón stream frog, a species found nowhere else on Earth.
Some projects target not animals but plants. In Nepal, Reshu Bashyal (pictured below) is confronting a black-market trade in orchids and Yew trees – driven by demand for traditional medicines and decorative flowers. Only around 500 Maire’s Yews now remain in the wild. Her work reminds us that biodiversity loss isn’t confined to what we can see and photograph.
These are not isolated efforts. Whether it’s reconnecting fragmented monkey habitats in Colombia or creating elephant corridors in Borneo palm oil zones, this year’s winners share a through-line: an understanding that conservation must work with people, not around them.
“The threatened species of our planet need not sympathetic words but practical help,” said Sir David Attenborough, a patron of the awards. That help is happening – not in distant summits or pledges, but in the hands of those with the patience to stay, listen and restore.
HRH The Princess Royal, who presented the awards in London, echoed that sentiment: “Every year here is a shot of optimism… This was a lot of hard work from a lot of people. Their leadership qualities are quite extraordinary… We have so much to learn from them – as individuals and from teams – and from what they have achieved in how to do things, and how to do things really well at the scale, at local level, which has a huge impact.”
About the Whitley Fund for Nature
The Whitley Fund for Nature is a UK charity that backs grassroots conservation leaders in the Global South. Since 1993, it has awarded over £24 million to local experts working on the front lines of biodiversity loss. The annual Whitley Awards, presented by charity patron HRH The Princess Royal, recognise individuals who combine scientific insight with community-led action. Winners receive funding, training and global visibility – with one recipient each year receiving the Whitley Gold Award for outstanding impact. Visit whitleyaward.org for more information on their work.
Khaled Bazzi is Creative Director at Perspective
