This year’s Whitley Awards, commonly dubbed the “Green Oscars,” have been presented to seven conservationists from three continents working to protect and revive a diverse range of threatened animals and plants, including jaguars, yew trees and orchids, frogs, monkeys, gibbons, elephants and cranes. Presented since 1994 by the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), the Whitley Awards recognize individuals for their achievements in grassroots conservation.
At an awards ceremony held April 30 at the Royal Geographic Society in London, six new winners received 50,000 pounds (nearly $67,000) each in project funding. A Whitley Gold Award, of 100,000 pounds ($134,000), was given to a past recipient of a Whitley Award who has gone on to make a “significant contribution to conservation.”
“Threatened species need not sympathetic words but practical help. It is wonderfully encouraging — and inspiring — to see the Whitley Awards recognise this and single out people who provide it with such distinction and dedication,” David Attenborough, an ambassador for WFN, said in a statement shared with Mongabay.
2025 Whitley Award winners:
Andrés Link from Colombia has been working to protect the critically endangered brown spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) in Colombia’s lowland rainforests. He’s doing this by expanding private protected areas and creating forest corridors to reconnect fragmented habitats.
Farina Othman from Malaysia is recognized for her work with palm oil companies and smallholders to protect the endangered Bornean elephant (Elephas maximus borneensis) in the east coast of Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo.
Yara Barros from Brazil has helped double the population of jaguars (Panthera onca) in a key corridor that includes Brazil’s Iguaçu National Park. To boost jaguar numbers, Yara’s team works with local communities to help them coexist with the big cat.
Federico Kacoliris from Argentina is recognized for helping protect the critically endangered El Rincón stream frog (Pleurodema somuncurense), by restoring its river habitat in the volcanic Somuncura Plateau and by engaging local communities in its conservation.
Reshu Bashyal from Nepal has been working to understand and address the illegal trade in yew and orchid plants for medicine and the ornamental plant trade in Nepal. The large-scale harvesting of the plants has driven several species to near extinction.
Rahayu Oktaviani from Indonesia works with local communities to monitor the endangered Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch) and protect its habitat in the last remaining forests of Java.
Olivier Nsengimana, a veterinarian from Rwanda, is the Whitley Gold Award winner for his efforts to stop the illegal trade in gray crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum). His team’s efforts include rescuing many cranes from captivity and returning them to the wild, and protecting their wetland habitats.
Banner image courtesy of Whitley Fund for Nature.
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