Congratulations to Jiang for Being Selected as a Finalist for the Whitney Fund for Nature (WFN) Award

The Whitney Fund for Nature, a UK-based charity that gives monetary rewards for outstanding conservation efforts, presented its most recent award on 10 May, 2006. Snow Leopard Network member Zhigang Jiang was one of the finalists. We applaud his commitment to conservation. For more information on Jiang’s work, see the WFN summary below:

Dr. Zhigang Jiang – China

Ecosystem approach to conservation of the Przewalski’s Gazelle in pastoral areas around Qinghai Lake.

The grasslands of Qinghai Lake on the Tibetan Plateau are the only place in the world where Przewalski’s gazelle can be found. Less than 300 adult gazelle remain, but they must compete with more than three million domestic livestock.

The people who live here are completely dependent on herding. Over-grazing is causing desertification and barbed-wire fences now criss-cross the plateau, creating unexpected barriers. Dr. Jiang Zhigang is working with indigenous people and the government to formulate a conservation strategy for the region.

In 1997 he successfully established the lake as a National Nature Reserve free from illegal hunting. He is now working to map key corridors between the four remaining gazelle populations to protect this, the most threatened hoofed mammal in the world.

http://www.whitleyaward.org/