| WASHINGTON
- February 16 - The world's foremost authority on pandas and a coalition
of Central American conservation groups are this year's co-winners of
the prestigious J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize, the World
Wildlife Fund announced today.
The annual prize,
which this year carries with it an award of $100,000, is being shared
by Prof. Pan Wenshi, China's leading authority on the conservation
of giant pandas, and the Trinational Alliance for the Gulf of Honduras,
a coalition of nine conservation groups from Belize, Guatemala and
Honduras.
"The Getty Prize,
which WWF administers on behalf of the family of the late J. Paul
Getty, honors those whose contributions to conservation have been
pioneering and substantial - words that certainly describe this year's
distinguished winners," said Kathryn S. Fuller, president of World
Wildlife Fund-US.
Director of the
Giant Panda and Wildlife Conservation Research Center at Peking University,
Pan Wenshi was chosen both for his cumulative achievements on behalf
of panda conservation over a career spanning nearly 40 years and for
his most recent efforts to convince the Chinese government to impose
a logging moratorium in the Changqing area of the northern Qinling
mountains, an important panda habitat.
"Prof. Pan has
contributed enormously to our understanding of the giant panda," said
Ginette Hemley WWF vice president for species conservation. "It was
Prof. Pan, for instance, who first proved that in contrast to captive
pandas, pandas in the wild reproduce at a relatively high rate comparable
to that of the American black bear," she noted.
One of biggest
threats to the panda today remains habitat loss from logging and other
economic activities. But Prof. Pan's successful campaign for a moratorium
on logging in part of the Qinling mountains led to the establishment
of a new reserve that has secured the survival of the 80 pandas living
there. "It has been a long and hard journey to get to the point where
we can be guardedly optimistic about the panda's fate in the wild.
Prof. Pan has been at the forefront of this struggle from the beginning,"
Fuller said.
Founded in 1995,
the Trinational Alliance for the Gulf of Honduras (TRIGOH) has worked
tirelessly and successfully to overcome the national divisions that
have long stymied effective conservation in the Gulf of Honduras.
Consolidating a trinational network of coastal and marine protected
areas, the alliance has helped to reduce the risk of hazardous spills
in the Gulf of Honduras, promoted ecoregional fisheries management
and expanded public awareness of the region's endangered species,
particularly the manatee.
"In only four
years, the alliance has had an extraordinary impact on a biologically
rich but beleaguered area. And what is so extraordinary about this
accomplishment is that it has been done with only modest support from
the region's governments," Fuller said. "Working together, the nine
private conservation groups that make up the alliance have effectively
pooled their resources to protect this wonderfully diverse area,"
Fuller said.
Fuller will present
the Getty Prize to TRIGOH at a ceremony in Tegucigalpa on Feb. 17.
The formal presentation to Prof. Pan will be held at a later date.
Created in 1974 to recognize outstanding contributions to conservation,
the Getty Prize is now overseen by Getty's son Gordon and other members
of the Getty family. Nominees are chosen by WWF and the winner selected
by a jury of eminent conservationists. The award carries with it national
and international recognition and a cash prize of $100,000, which
this year's winners will split.
Previous winners
have included Dr. Jane Goodall, British conservationist Sir Peter
Scott, Dr. Harold Coolidge, founder of the World Conservation Union,
and the Forest Stewardship Council.
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