Prince William urges world focus on saving Africa's wildlife at Hampton Court Palace awards ceremony
By Eli Haidari 2nd Nov 2022
Prince William urged the world to remain focused on saving Africa's wildlife as he attended the 10th Tusk Conservation Awards at Hampton Court Palace on Tuesday evening (November 1st).
The Awards celebrate African-based conservation leaders and wildlife rangers, and their significant impacts to the field. The Prince of Wales has been royal patron of the charity since 2005 and helped launch the awards in 2013.
In a heartfelt speech on Tuesday night at the awards ceremony, the Prince said: "We are living through turbulent times and it is all too easy to loose sight of how critical it is that we look after our natural world.
"But we must remain focused on investing in our nature and the environment, protecting it for future generations. We must not pass on the baton to our children and grandchildren, apologising for our lack of collective action.
"Instead, we must all do more to support those who support our natural world, often at great risk to themselves."
Ian Craig, Chief of Conservation at Northern Rangelands Trust in Kenya, was one of the two winning recipients of the Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa 2022. The Kenyan-based conservationist converted his family's 62,000-acre cattle ranch into a rhino sanctuary in the 1980s and it went on to become the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a model for conservation across the globe.
Mr Craig went on to help create the Northern Rangelands Trust, which links 43 conservancies across 63,000square kilometres of wildlife territory.
Achilles Byaruhanga, was also awarded with the coveted award from Prince William. Mr Byaruhanga has been a passionate voice for birds in Uganda for 27 years. In 2010, when he led a campaign to stop the government 'giving away' the Mabira forest reserve to sugarcane growers, he received death threats. However, his efforts were not only successful, but saved other gazetted forests across the country from similar fates.
As an equally strong advocate for wetlands, Mr Byaruhanga was instrumental in the identification of Important Bird Areas (IBAs), enabling the designation of 12 Ramsar sites across Uganda. These designations represented the first time that areas of huge importance to Uganda's biodiversity were internationally recognised outside of formal protected area. Uganda's wetlands are no longer wastelands but productive ecosystems for conservation, climate change mitigation and supporting local livelihoods.
Among the other winners on Tuesday night, Neddy Mulilmo became the 2022 Wildlife Ranger winner. For 36 years Mr Mulilmo has dedicated his life to conservation. His passion and drive are the reason he was selected to run an elite and highly targeted Specialist Anti-Poaching Unit in 2008.
As a mentor and instructor, he is an inspiration to many young rangers with whom he works. He assists all his units with a quiet determination, and actively lobbies on their behalf to improve working conditions.
Miguel Gonçalves was also awarded for his conservation commitments in Africa. Mr Gonçalves has worked within the Maputo National Park since 1999, becoming Park Warden in 2008.
Under Mr Gonçalves' inspirational leadership across the last 12 years, the park has changed dramatically from a free-for-all-hunting ground to a landscape able to support the thriving populations of wildlife and recovering ecosystems, both in the ocean and on land.
Following last night's award ceremony at Hampton Court Palace, Prince William will today be joined by this year's winner and alumni from previous awards and conservation experts at St James's Palace.
Visit the Tusk Conservation website here to discover more on this year's finalists, previous alumni and the work that continues to be carried out across Africa.
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