Press Release
Dutch ecologist Tjalle Boorsma manages international conservation project for Blue-throated Macaw in Barba Azul Nature Reserve and beats more than 120 other contestants by winning the FFN Award 2020
Arnhem, 12 March 2020. Out of one hundred and twenty-four candidates from all over the world three inspiring natural leaders in nature conservation were chosen to be this year’s winners of the Future For Nature Award. On Friday, May 8th 2020, Tjalle Boorsma (Bolivia), Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria) and María Fernanda Puerto-Carrillo (Venezuela) will receive this prestigious nature conservation prize during the Future For Nature Award Event at Royal Burgers’ Zoo. In the past this internationally renowned prize was presented by icons such as Sir David Attenborough and Dr. Jane Goodall.
Talented Nature Conservationist Working in the Barba Azul Nature Reserve
The Dutch Tjalle Boorsma (35 years old) left his homeland to stop the decline of Bolivia’s most threatened birds, the Blue-throated Macaw of which only 400-450 individuals are left in the wild. He discovered their previously unknown nesting sites and gained crucial information for designing a conservation programme for these amazing birds. Key to this is the development of strategies with private cattle ranchers to assure landscape scale conservation, adopting sustainable best-practice ranching techniques that demonstrate improved productivity and economic revenues.
Three Winners from Venezuela, Nigeria and the Netherlands
The two other winners of the Future For Nature Award, next to Tjalle Boorsma, are Iroro Tanshi (35 years old) and María Fernanda Puerto-Carrillo (33 years old).
Tanshi rediscovered a population of the Short-tailed Roundleaf bat in Nigeria (last seen 45 years ago) and is on a mission to protect the last known roost that is under threat of fruit bat hunting and wildfires. Her ‘Zero Wildfire Campaign’ already resulted in zero wildfire reports in 2019 during the dry season.
Puerto-Carrillo works in Venezuela where the current crisis has made conservation work hard and often dangerous. She is one of the last ones standing and even more passionate and determined than before to protect the jaguar and its habitat.
These three nature conservation heroes will receive the Future For Nature Award on May 8th 2020 in Royal Burgers’ Zoo, the Netherlands.
International Celebrities Support the Work of Future For Nature
The Future For Nature Awards will be presented at Royal Burgers’ Zoo for the thirteenth consecutive year in 2020. The internationally recognised nature conservation prize was presented in the past by Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Frans de Waal and Doutzen Kroes.
The event will be livestreamed on the Future For Nature Facebook page and YouTube channel, so save the date!
More information about Future For Nature and this year’s winners can be found on futurefornature.org