Mohammad Farhadinia (2009)

Chances for the Asiatic Cheetah and Persian Panther

In Iran, the last two viable populations exist of two felines which have almost completely disappeared in the rest of the world: the Asiatic cheetah and the Persian panther. With fewer than 100 animals living in the wild, the Asiatic cheetah still survives in a chain of mountainous habitats, where it, in contradiction to its African cousins, lives of wild goats and sheep. The Persian panthers still survive in a bigger population – probably with more than 500 animals, but there are often serious conflicts with the local population, leading to the death of one of the animals.

Mohammad Farhadinia strives to protect these animals by studying them, teaching the local population about them and by giving wounded animals a shelter.

Maggie Muurmans (2009)

Sea turtles help island inhabitants!

Maggie Muurmans was born in Indonesia, but grew up in the Netherlands. She returned to Indonesia to realise management plans and sea turtle projects in three nature reserves in Pulau Banyak. This is a desolate group of islands close to the south-west border of Atjeh, in the North of Sumatra. It is a so called ‘conservation hotspot’, an area with a grand number of rare and protected animals and plants, both on shore and in the sea.

Maggie Muurmans studies the turtles, informs the local population about them and is setting up a eco-tourist programme, whereby both the local population and the highly endangered sea turtle will benefit.  

Inza Koné (2009)

The Tanoé forest and its monkeys are alive!

Inza Koné is a young Ivorian nature conservationist who aims to protect the Tanoé forest in the eastern part of Ivory Coast and the monkeys living in it. There are three kinds of monkeys living in the forest which are endangered, the Diana Roloway, the White-napped Mangabey and Miss Waldron’s Red Colobus. One of the main threats recently has been the replantation of the forest with palm oil plantations.

In the past few years, Inza Kone has helped protect the Tanoé forest in a variety of ways and especially focused on these three monkeys. The most important instrument to protect the forest is the so called community management system.