Nepali pangolin conservationist <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/planet-of-the-pangolins">Tulshi Laxmi Suwal</a> has won the Whitley Award worth £40,000 from the UK conservation charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). This comes on the heels of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-conservationist-wins-whitley-award">Sonam Lama</a> of the Red Panda Network who won the prestigious award last year.
Suwal has been recognised for her work in protecting the world’s most trafficked mammal and their habitat increasingly threatened by unprecedented forest fires, which also put at risk an ambitious reforestation program in one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change.
Nepal’s Suwal along with five other winners from Mexico, Madagascar, Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Kenya were presented with the award by HRH The Princess Royal on 26 April at the Royal Geographical Society, also marking the 30th anniversary of the Whitley Fund for Nature. The ceremony was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw6NlTEiWfU" target="_blank">live-streamed on YouTube</a>.
“Over my 15 years in conservation, I have always felt a strong connection with the Chinese pangolin with its dark brown skin, a flat nose, carrying a baby on its back just like I did,” said Suwal at the award ceremony. “The recognition of this award will make all the difference for the sustainable conservation of these species and their habitat.”
Nepal is home to two of the eight species of pangolin, the Critically Endangered Chinese pangolin and the Endangered Indian pangolin. Both pangolins are on Nepal’s protected list and killing, poaching, transporting, selling or buying the scaly anteater is punishable with an Rs1 million fine and/or up to 15 years in jail.
Yet, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/better-nepal-china-connectivity-helps-wildlife-smugglers">Nepal is not just a source site but also the transit hub</a> for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-routes-for-the-world-s-most-trafficked-mammal">transborder trafficking</a> of the scaly anteaters from Africa to China and beyond. Some 100,000 pangolins are smuggled live into China from Southeast Asia and Africa.
Many Chinese believe the scales have therapeutic values, and pangolin meat is considered a delicacy. Some ethnic groups in Nepal also eat pangolins for their supposed health benefits, but most are now killed or trapped to be smuggled to China.
Suwal is the founder of the Small Mammals Conservation and Research Foundation (SMCRF) and has been involved in the research and conservation of pangolins for the past 15 years. She will be using the Whitley fund to conduct Nepal’s first impact assessment to focus on the effects of fires on Chinese pangolin across 4,000ha.
Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-routes-for-the-worlds-most-trafficked-mammal/">The routes for the world’s most trafficked mammal</a>, Nepali Times
More specifically, the project will create ten sustainable Community Pangolin Conservation Groups in three districts in Bagmati province to monitor pangolin populations and their habitats, and equip them to manage fires and plant trees.
“Our major goal is to motivate local communities to take ownership of pangolin conservation at local levels,” says Suwal, adding that “local communities, especially community forest users groups, are now coming forward and are highly willing to conserve this species.”
Suwal’s project will support the livelihoods of local communities while assessing pangolin populations, implementing threat mitigation measures and restoring habitat by planting 20,000 local mixed broad-leaved trees. An awareness campaign will reach 200,000 people in households and schools.
A member of the IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group, Suwal is also a role model for fellow conservationists and young students, being the only person in Nepal to have received a PhD on pangolins.
Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/">Protecting pangolins from being eaten to extinction</a>, Sonia Awale

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Nepali conservationist wins Whitley, again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYvfs38byDENepali conservationist <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepali-activist-shortlisted-for-nature-award/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepali-activist-shortlisted-for-nature-award/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183233000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3FlRPivX_wKqN3OOQlisfl">Sonam Lama</a> of the Red Panda Network has won the prestigious Whitley Award worth £40,000 from UK conservation charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN).Lama was recognised for his work training 100 citizen scientists to help restore the red panda habitat and invested in the mammals’ eco-tourism to generate income for local people, and plans to use the fund to turn poachers into protectors and diversify sustainable income for communities."Future generations should have the right to see this charismatic species. I would love my daughter to know about red pandas, wouldn't you?" says the conservationist.Listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/red-panda-on-the-red-list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/red-panda-on-the-red-list/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183233000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1imzwaPUXVpIbdmiX-45eO">critically endangered</a>, the red panda has been seeing a record number of illegal seizures with its habitat fragmented into over 400 isolated patches. Lama is one of the six grassroots conservationists pioneering solutions to the biodiversity crisis recognised by the 2022 <a href="https://whitleyaward.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://whitleyaward.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Ga8iJH1cI5pl6RE0_cFpz">Whitley Awards who</a> were <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DRYvfs38byDE&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651242291363000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1wXHyBI3nMxruk6iY89RWV" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/url?q%3Dhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v%253DRYvfs38byDE%26source%3Dgmail%26ust%3D1651242291363000%26usg%3DAOvVaw1wXHyBI3nMxruk6iY89RWV&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Pg63RZhiX99LFbfqbH8u9">presented with their prize</a> on 27 April by WFN Patron, HRH The Princess Royal. <figure><img width="1600" height="1067" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e909c7e80680e0bd552jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>2022 Whitley Award winner Sonam Lama recieving his prize from WFN Patron HRH The Princess Royal. Photo: WHITLEY AWARDS</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="3264" height="1836" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e939c7e80680e0bd553jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>"As we emerge from Covid-19 and take stock of its impact on planetary health as well as our own, this WhitleyAward will enable Sonam to address issues that have arisen including the increased poaching of an already Critically Endangered species,” says Danni Parks, WFN Director. She adds: “The charismatic red panda is a much-loved local emblem as well as an international star, and importantly, this holistic project will also benefit the people with whom it shares its home in the forested foothills of the Himalayas."The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/republic-of-nepals-animal-kingdom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/republic-of-nepals-animal-kingdom/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw34VGfHwzqFJKI6Bu42oDd_">elusive panda of the Himalayas</a> was discovered 50 years before the giant panda and is considered a living fossil. Endemic to eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests, with thick bamboo understories and consistently cool temperatures, red pandas are indicators of ecosystem health.But the Covid-19 pandemic over the last two years has added challenges to their conservation and caused a surge in poaching with 37 pelts confiscated from the black market in 2021. Estimates suggest that 1 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3R0jDmIem8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DR3R0jDmIem8&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2H1psVb_QcywiAGk10q5jZ">red panda is poached</a> every 10 days in Nepal.Habitat loss compounding conditions for the 10,000 adult individuals that remain, with rates of deforestation over double the national average and forests now so severely fragmented that genetic inbreeding is likely. <figure><img width="750" height="321" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111152/63721e969c7e80680e0bd554jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Lama’s <a href="https://redpandanetwork.org/%3E," target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://redpandanetwork.org/%253E,&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3JTj-H20KGQKJpP8yUVU3o">Red Panda Network</a> is leading the longest-running monitoring project in the world, with 10 wild red pandas successfully <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracking-nepals-red-panda-by-satellite/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracking-nepals-red-panda-by-satellite/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1651282183234000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3tF347NsB0domJmB5aBW79">GPS-collared and studied</a>. They have restored 400 hectares of habitat around the third highest peak in the world Mt Kangchenjunga, trained over 100 citizen scientists, and supported 100 school students with Red Panda Conservation Scholarships.Lama will be using his Whitley Award to diversify income sources for communities, particularly women and young people, through forest conservation nurseries and restoration to create a wildlife corridor that connects the habitat for red pandas. He also plans to establish community-led anti-poaching patrols and awareness-raising campaigns. Poised to expand, Lama's project has great potential for replication in other countries. He adds: "The goal of the project is red panda conservation but it is equally important to address the livelihood needs of communities."

whitley-award

Nepali conservationist wins Whitley, again

Nepal conservationist wins Whitley Award