Countryside Management Association News

There were 50 nominations for this annual award, with the judges selecting Alasdair Harris of UK as winner. Alasdair (age 24) established Blue Ventures, a marine conservation organization dedicated to promoting conservation efforts to safeguard the Madagascar marine biodiversity, as well as the livelihoods of its indigenous, semi-nomadic fishing communities, who are entirely dependent on marine resources for subsistence, income, and cultural identity. Since its start with one community in 2003, Blue Ventures has expanded to 23 neighboring communities and is now working with other non-governmental organizations to replicate this model for resource management along an ambitious 400 km of coastline.

Other finalists were Krissie Clark, Tanzania; Arthur Omondi Tuda, Kenya; Florin Stoican, Romania; Heng Sokrith, Cambodia and Satya Priya Gautam Bhalla, India.

The Young Conservationist Award was founded by IRF and IUCN Program on Protected Areas. The awards have been sponsored by Parks Victoria, Australia, which pays the expenses for the award recipient to travel to the ceremony. This year, there will be a special ceremony at the first Healthy Parks Healthy People Congress in Melbourne Australia, which is being hosted by Parks Victoria.