Since 1985, the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) has been helping early-career conservationists around the world gain experience, confidence and a support network in the conservation sector. To achieve its capacity-building objectives, CLP offers training, mentorship and networking opportunities to these rising stars in conservation, along with project funding to support their vital work to save globally threatened species. This year CLP is delighted to have reached a cumulative total of over USD 10 million of project funding awarded since 1985, representing a significant landmark for the programme since it was first established 35 years ago.
The landmark funding amount has supported a total of 819 vital conservation projects across the world, mainly based in developing countries in Africa, Asia & Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Most of these projects have received grants through the annual CLP Team Awards, totalling c. USD 8.3 million to date. Other supported projects are CLP internships, in which young conservationists are placed within a CLP partner organization where they can gain valuable training and work experience to help advance their careers in conservation. Other projects have been funded through the Kate Stokes Memorial Award (an additional award specifically for CLP alumni) and past Research Fellowship Programmes.
These CLP-funded projects have made key contributions to conservation worldwide, including new research findings to inform conservation efforts, the discovery of new species, the designation of protected sites, and the establishment of new NGOs. Many CLP alumni have gone on to lead successful careers in conservation. Current positions include the Head of Science at IUCN, Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Conservation Leadership and Education for Nature Program at WWF.
This year, the CLP Team Awards is funding 19 projects with grants worth a combined total of USD 342,830, thanks to support from Arcadia—a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The funding will support critical projects across the world focused on saving a range of threatened species across various taxa.
Additionally, the 2020 Kate Stokes Memorial Award is supporting a project in Madagascar focused on educating and training local people to adopt sustainable forest management in Mangabe Reserve, an important refuge for threatened wildlife such as the Critically Endangered golden mantilla frog Mantella aurantiaca and indri lemur Indri indri. CLP has also supported three internships with Fauna & Flora International this year, including community forestry of mangroves in Myanmar, conservation of fruit-and-nut forests in Tajikistan, and marine protected area development and monitoring in Cambodia.
CLP is already planning to add to this landmark in project funding when it announces the winners of the 2021 Team Awards in April 2021. To view a full list of the projects supported by CLP since it was established, visit conservationleadershipprogramme.org/our-projects/supported-projects. CLP is a partnership between BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
