"Future generations should have the right to see this charismatic species. I would love my daughter to know about red pandas, wouldn't you?"
KATHMANDU, APRIL 28
Nepali conservationist, Sonam Lama, has won the Whitley Award worth £40,000 from UK conservation charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). Lama has trained 100 citizen scientists to help restore red panda habitat and invested in red panda eco-tourism to provide income for local people.
Issuing a press statement, the organisers said that 2021 saw record numbers of illegal red panda pelts seized, with habitat for the Critically Endangered species fragmented into over 400 isolated patches. Lama, living and working in the foothills of the world's third largest mountain, will use his Award money to turn red panda poachers into protectors and diversify sustainable income for communities, especially socially and economically at-risk women and young people.
Six grassroots conservationists including Lama were presented with the Awards -- a world-leading prize for wildlife conservation -- for pioneering solutions to the biodiversity crisis on Wednesday by WFN Patron, Princess Royal Anne.
With one million species at risk of extinction and warnings of inextricable links between biodiversity loss and climate change, Whitley Award winners will use the funding to accelerate their breakthrough work to reverse declines in species from Sumatran rhinos to sea turtles.
The red panda, a shy species, 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.
However, COVID-19 caused a surge in poaching with 37 pelts confiscated from the black market in 2021 alone.
Estimates suggest that 1 red panda is poached every 10 days in Nepal. Habitat loss is compounding conditions for the 10,000 adult individuals that remain, with rates of deforestation over double the national average and forest now so severely fragmented that genetic inbreeding is likely.
Lama works with the Red Panda Network, an NGO dedicated to conservation of wild red pandas. They are leading the longest-running monitoring project in the world, with 10 wild red pandas successfully GPS-collared and studied. They have restored 400 hectares of habitat around Mt. Kangchenjunga, trained over 100 citizen scientists, and supported 100 school students with Red Panda Conservation Scholarships.
Scaling up this success into new areas, Lama will use also use the 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 habitat for red pandas. He will also establish community-led anti-poaching patrols and awareness-raising campaigns. Poised to expand, Lama's project has great potential for replication in other range countries, the statement further said in the statement.
"The goal of the project is red panda conservation but it is equally important to address the livelihood needs of communities."
Danni Parks, WFN Director, said: "As we emerge from COVID-19 and take stock of its impact on planetary health as well as our own, this Whitley Award will enable Sonam to address issues that have arisen including the increased poaching of an already Critically Endangered species. 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."
WFN also recognised Whitley Award alumnus, Dr Charudutt Mishra, with its top prize - the Whitley Gold Award worth £100,000. A snow leopard conservationist working across the big cat's range of 12 countries including India, Afghanistan, China and Russia, Mishra's pioneering approach to community-led conservation has been named an outstanding global practice by the UN Biodiversity Conference. With 'fortress conservation' having displaced an estimated 130 million people worldwide, community-based conservation that champions the co-existence of people and wildlife offers a transformative solution to the biodiversity crisis. The Whitley Gold Award will enable Mishra to train conservationists on every continent in equitable approaches.
