UK charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN), recognised Dr Paola Sangolquí with a 2026 Whitley Award to protect the nesting sites of the Critically Endangered Galápagos Petrel from invasive species on private land.
“As awareness has grown, local communities and landowners hosting nests have begun to see the petrel as a symbol of shared responsibility… every time, I see a chick successfully fledge, I am reminded why we do this work, it is about giving a species a real chance to tell its story”.
Invasive rats and agricultural expansion have altered the landscape of the archipelago that influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in 1835, reducing suitable nesting for the seabird. Endemic to the Galápagos, the bird spends most of its life at sea and nests on land in natural cavities and burrows. The population remains fragile after a dramatic collapse to 3,500 breeding pairs in the 1980s from 27,000 a decade earlier.
The marine conservation coordinator at local NGO, Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, known as Jocotoco, Paola plans to ensure the Galápagos Petrel has a future by drawing attention to the important role that private landowners can play in conservation. While most conservation strategies have focused on national park areas in the eastern Pacific islands, little attention has been given to private farmlands.
A native Galápagueña, Paola aims to create a model for seabird nesting colony conservation worldwide, led by the local community which includes the environmental authority, scientists, landowners and youth. In a major milestone, Jocotoco is also part of the largest ecological restoration project undertaken on the Galápagos – led by the Galápagos National Park Directorate—that has seen 158 giant tortoises reintroduced to the island of Floreana after they went extinct there more than 180 years ago.
Charity Patron, HRH The Princess Royal presented the Whitley Award on 29 April at the Royal Geographical Society. The event was livestreamed to YouTube. WFN Ambassador Sir David Attenborough said conservation work has never been more urgent. “We need the work of Whitley Award winners to succeed and to help them to whatever extent possible.”
Globally famous for conservation – the Galápagos National Park covers 97 percent of the archipelago – Paola and her team at Jocotoco will focus on two remote colonies of the seabird located outside of the park area. Working in coordination with the Galápagos National Park Directorate, Paola and her team have identified 74 previously undocumented active Galápagos Petrel nests on farmland in the highlands of Santa Cruz island. The owners were unaware of the presence of the nocturnal bird.
As part of the Whitley Award project, Paola and the Jocotoco team, in coordination with the Galápagos National Park Directorate, will work directly with farmers on Santa Cruz, the most populous of the 13 main islands with a population of 18,000 people. The archipelago is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve with most people on the islands make a living from tourism, small-scale fisheries, public service or agriculture, which makes balancing conservation and development important.
Paola’s team will develop management strategies to protect nesting burrows, implement invasive predator control, monitor the nests in person on a monthly basis using camera traps and track adults with GPS trackers to better understand their foraging patterns.
More than 1,500 invasive species have arrived since Darwin visited the islands located 1,000 kilometres off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific. In addition to rats and feral cats, poorly managed livestock, such as cattle and pigs are a threat to the bird which has a life span of about 30 years and does not reach reproductive maturity until about five-six years.
In coordination with the Galapagos National Park Directorate, Paola and her team will engage with local schools on education programmes and arrange field visits to foster a new generation of conservation stewards. Satellite tracking of adults will provide critical data on foraging areas and potential interactions with fisheries.
Satellite trackers have already enabled the Jocotoco team to learn that Galápagos Petrels from Floreana foraged more southernly and westerly than those from San Cristobal island. This underscores the view that petrels that nest on different islands represent distinct conservation units and require distinct conservation strategies. The birds forage around the islands, but also disperse east and north towards South America and up to 2,000 km south. They have been recorded off the coast of Peru, and records indicate they may have even travelled to the Baja California.
Paola says she sees the Galápagos Petrel as part of a larger family of seabirds that travel vast distances and which are global connectors, moving between countries and international waters, linking ecosystems across borders.
HIGH-RES IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE
NOTES TO EDITORS – WHITLEY FUND FOR NATURE
The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK charity supporting grassroots conservation leaders in the Global South. Since its creation in 1993, it has channelled £26 million to over 230 conservationists working across 84 countries.
An early pioneer in the sector WFN was one of the first charities to channel funding directly to projects led by in-country nationals. Its rigorous application process identifies inspiring individuals who combine the latest science with community-based action.
WFN’s flagship prizes – Whitley Awards – are presented by charity Patron, HRH The Princess Royal, at a prestigious annual ceremony in London at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Winners receive funding, training, and profile boost, including short films.
The 2026 Whitley Awards Ceremony took place on Wednesday 29 April at the RGS and streamed live to YouTube. The other 2026 Whitley Award winners are:
- Dr Marina Kameni from Cameroon who is reviving endemic amphibian populations in Southwest Cameroon, a global hotspot for threatened amphibians, including the world’s largest frog.
- Dr Moreangels Mbizah from Zimbabwe who is expanding a coexistence model of conservation in northern Zimbabwe that allows the movement of lions between protected areas and community land.
- Dr Issah Seidu from Ghana who is saving guitarfish along Ghana’s western coastline and advancing plans to create the country’s first Locally Managed Marine Area.
- Parveen Shaikh from India who is expanding protection for the Indian Skimmer and her model of community-led riverine bird conservation to Prayagraj in the Ganga Basin.
- Dr Barkha Subba from India who is leading the first grassroots movement to protect the Himalayan salamander and its fragile wetland habitat in the Darjeeling Himalaya, West Bengal.
Every year, a past Whitley Award winner is chosen to receive the Whitley Gold Award, which has increased to £120,000, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to conservation. The Whitley Gold Award recipient also acts as a mentor to Whitley Award winners and an international ambassador for conservation success.
The 2026 Whitley Gold Award winner is Indonesia’s Farwiza Farhan who is accelerating community protection of water catchments in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, where devastating storms and floods last year compounded more than three decades of deforestation.
FOR INTERVIEW REQUESTS AND INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Carol Roussel, Head of Media, Whitley Fund for Nature
T: 07379 019 804
Josephine Higgins, Head of Communications, Whitley Fund for Nature
