Altyn Dala Initiative wins environmental Earthshot Prize
The Altyn Dala Initiative has won the prestigious environmental award “The Earthshot Prize 2024” in the category “Protect and Restore Nature” for its achievements in restoring the saiga population and expanding protected natural areas in Kazakhstan, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The name "Earthshot" is inspired by US President John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" project, which aimed to send a man to the moon and back safely. Like that project, Earthshot aims to achieve ambitious environmental goals.
There are five “Earthshots” - or goals: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-free World, and Fix our Climate.
Among the 15 finalists, only five category winners were chosen, each receiving a £1 million prize fund to expand their initiatives.
The Executive Director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan Vera Voronova expressed gratitude for the prize during the award ceremony in Cape Town.
“This prize recognises all hard work for the last two decades of everyone involved. Decision makers, scientists, rangers, teachers. For this unique opportunity, we would like to thank the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration for nominating us, The Earthshot Prize for choosing us, and Prince William for such a strong voice for natural conservation by creating this Prize,” says Voronova.
“This Prize recognises all the hard work for the last two decades.” @AltynDala wins The Earthshot Prize to Protect and Restore Nature. Congratulations! #EarthshotCapeTown pic.twitter.com/xmEvOe9OPB
— The Earthshot Prize (@EarthshotPrize) November 6, 2024
Altyn Dala was founded in 2005 as a long-term partnership between the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), Fauna & Flora International, the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The main goal of the partners is to restore the saiga population and preserve the steppes of Kazakhstan.
As a result of joint efforts, Kazakhstan's saiga population, which accounts for over 98% of the global total, has increased from 21,000 individuals in 2003 to 2.8 million in 2024, making it one of the world’s most successful examples of mammal recovery.
Other significant achievements of Altyn Dala initiative include ongoing work to restore populations of rare and endangered species such as the steppe eagle, gyrfalcon and kulan. This work is actively carried out in the protected areas of Central Kazakhstan. In 2024, a project to reintroduce kulans to this region was successfully completed.
