An evening with Whitley Gold Award winners
On December 4th, WFN Ambassador Kate Humble led an evening on the Amazon Rainforest, joined by two Whitley Gold Award winners; Patrícia Medici, founder of the Lowland Tapir Conservation Initiative, and Angela Maldonado, founder of Fundación Entropika, who brought us stories from the field.
See a full gallery of photos from the event here.
Taking place in the iconic Library room of London’s Royal Institution, Patrícia and Angela shared powerful insights into their conservation journeys, from protecting tapirs in Brazil’s forests to combating the illegal wildlife trade in Colombia, their stories brought to life the challenges and triumphs of safeguarding biodiversity.
Gardeners of the forest
Showcasing tapirs as the ‘gardeners of the forest’ due to their ecological value as seed dispersers, Pati won over WFN supporters with ‘cute photos’ of baby tapirs and stories of the species’ incredible resilience in surviving the Ice Age.
Despite this, however, tapirs face new challenges today. From pesticide contamination due to feeding in corn plantations on the edges of their forest homes, to risk of road traffic collisions from roads cutting through their territories, the species’ plight highlights the urgency of Patrícia and her team’s work to overcome the mosaic of threats across the tapir’s Brazilian range — working with the next generation to do so.
Ecosystem engineers
Next to take the floor, Angela shared a candid account of her commitment to protecting Nancy Ma’s night monkeys — the only nocturnal primates of the neotropics. Named after Dr. Nancy Shui-Fong Ma, the pathology scientist who mapped their genetics, the species has faced threats from poaching, use in medical research and exploitation as photo props in tourist ‘selfies’.
Contextualising the reality of the dangers of working as an environmentalist in Colombia, Angela told of how, as a lone woman, she overcame threats from FARC forces and intimidation from giants in the field of bioscience to safeguard this species of primate who helps to engineer the forests with their own seed dispersal capabilities. Thanks to her research, the conservation status of night monkeys in Colombia has been changed from Lower Risk to Endangered, seeing the success of a decade-long goal to protect them from future permits for biomedical research.
How to Save It
Delving deeper into themes of collaboration and coalition, WFN Ambassadors Kate Humble and Tom Heap led an engaging and wide-ranging discussion with Pati and Angela, which has been recorded for an upcoming episode of our podcast, How to Save It.
Covering the challenges of building positive relationships in spite of opposing views, the role of the media in elevating conservation efforts, and the impact of winning a Whitley Award, the conversation will be available to listen back to as a future podcast episode available in the new year.
Patrícia and Angela’s passion resonated deeply with those in the room, leaving WFN founder, Edward Whitley, to wrap up the evening’s proceedings with a word of thanks to all those whose support enables the success of projects such as these.
A heartfelt thank you to all who attended, and to our wonderful speakers for an evening filled with thought-provoking presentations and engaging discussion, showcasing the ground-breaking work of two extraordinary Whitley Gold Award winners.
Keep an eye out for the podcast episode featuring these extraordinary conservation leaders—coming soon!
