The Frankfurt Conservation Awards are awarded in three categories:

A personality of science, journalism or practical nature conservation who has rendered outstanding services to the conservation of nature and the environment, especially wildlife (Lifetime achievement award). The award is endowed with 30 000 Euros.

Julia Miranda Londoño

Julia Miranda Londoño, a lawyer specializing in environmental law and a passionate environmentalist, was head of the Colombian National Parks Authority from 2004 to 2020.

The expansion of Colombia’s protected areas network was a significant achievement of her nearly 17 years in office. During this time, fifteen protected areas were either newly designated or expanded, including the breathtaking Chiribiquete National Park. In total, 59 national parks encompassing 31.3 million hectares,
equivalent to more than 18 percent of Colombia’s land area, were under her leadership. The Colombian also worked tirelessly to designate an additional ten national parks and expanding two existing ones.

Julia Miranda Londoño has great diplomatic skills which has helped her nature conservation efforts, both in Colombia and on an international scale. For twenty years, she was part of the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas, which consists of a network of 2,500 protected area specialists from 140 countries, and, since 2015 she has been vice-chair of this commission.

JULIA MIRANDA LONDOÑO’S VISION, COMMITMENT AND SKILLS HAVE MADE HER AN OUTSTANDING NATURE CONSERVATION AND BIODIVERSITY PRESERVATION CHAMPION IN COLOMBIA AND BEYOND.

IT IS THANKS TO SILVANA CAMPELLO & GEORGE GEORGIADIS’S CONTINUOUS EFFORTS THAT GIANT OTTERS AND RIVER DOLPHINS CONTINUE TO SHOW STABLE POPULATIONS AND THAT LOCAL SUPPORT FOR THEIR NGO’S IMPORTANT WORK IN PROTECTING THE CANTÃO ECOSYSTEM REMAINS, DESPITE THE CURRENTLY DIFFICULT POLITICAL SITUATION IN BRAZIL.

devided between two awardees: Awardee 1

Individuals who have made outstanding individual achievements in the field of conservation of nature and the environment and who have done remarkable practical conservation work. (Next generation of scientists award).

For exceptional achievements in practical nature conservation. The award is endowed with 15 000 Euros.

DR. SILVANA CAMPELLO & GEORGE GEORGIADIS

In 1996, while looking for natural areas to protect in Brazil’s Amazon, two scientists, Silvana Campello and George Georgiadis, visited the Cantão ecosystem for the first time. They soon realized that here, the populations of fish, aquatic reptiles, birds, giant otters, caimans, and jaguars were very high when compared to average Amazonian numbers. After this trip, they returned to Cantão several times, eventually becoming instrumental contributors to the establishment of Cantão State Park two years later. In 2010, the couple founded an NGO dedicated to research and nature conservation in the Cantão protected area called Instituto Araguaia.

Thanks to their efforts, Cantão State Park is now considered to be one of Brazil’s most important nature reserves, where a growing population of giant otters has full protection, the only place in the country where this is the case. Here, in 2014, the Cantão river dolphins were classified as a separate species, now called the Araguaia river dolphin. Also, coordinated work with local communities has reduced hunting and illegal fishing in the protected area.

devided between two awardees: Awardee 2

Individuals who have made outstanding individual achievements in the field of conservation of nature and the environment and who have done remarkable practical conservation work. (Next generation of scientists award).

For exceptional achievements in practical nature conservation. The award is endowed with 15 000 Euros.

TEÓFILO TORRES TUESTA

Teófilo Torres understands the important role of indigenous communities living in the Amazon for nature conservation efforts. Especially since he was born in the local community Remanso on the Putumayo River, near Yaguas National Park. As such, as director of Yaguas National Park, it was a priority for him to nurture dialogues with the ethnic groups living along the Putumayo River.

In 2002, Teófilo Torres began his career as a sociologist with Peru’s national parks authority SERNANP. In 2012, some of his most important achievements were the designations and establishments of the Güeppi-Sekime National Park and the Airo Pai and Huimeki Municipal Reserves in the Putumayo River’s upper drainage basin. Later, Teófilo Torres became the director of these protected areas. Together with the local communities in the region, he and his team developed management plans for the Güeppi-Sekime National Park and adjacent Communal Reserves. They also worked on agreements regarding the sustainable harvesting of the Yellow-spotted River Turtles.

In September 2015, Teófilo Torres became the director of Yaguas Reserved Zone, with the initial task of re-starting the designation process to make the Reserved Zone a national park, a process that had been halted. He achieved this goal in January 2018, making Yaguas into a national park that covers 868,928 hectares. The Yaguas River is an important source of freshwater for the region. Also, the diversity of fish species, and quantity of large fish make this a critically important food source for indigenous communities living in the middle and lower sections of the Putumayo River Basin, as well as the Ampiyacu River Basin. Unfortunately, the health of the rivers is threatened with gold mining activities. To combat this, Teófilo Torres has implemented a strategy against alluvial gold mining and logging activities in Yaguas National Park.

ILLEGAL GOLD MINING IS LINKED TO ORGANIZED CRIME IN PERU, AS SUCH, TEÓFILO HAS ALSO TAKEN GREAT PERSONAL RISKS TO ENSURE THE PROTECTION OF THIS AREA AND ITS BIODIVERSITY.