Rolex Laureate - Karina Atkinson

Courtesy of Rolex

Karina Atkinson Rolex Laureate in 2012 for her project to help create and foster sustainable eco-tourism in Paraguay.  You can find out more about here organization, Paralatierra here:
http://www.paralatierra.org


And here are the details of her project, again courtesy of Rolex:

Nurturing South America’s forgotten corner

Scottish biologist Karina Atkinson is helping to transform a little-known Paraguayan reserve into a model of scientific conservation and sustainable tourism that benefits the local community.

Karina Atkinson is a young woman in a hurry. Determined, within the next five years, to turn her Paraguayan NGO into a conservation model, she has become a trailblazer in an astonishingly short time. Thanks to her, Paraguay, one of the poorest countries in South America, now has its first organization – Para La Tierra – conducting scientific projects all year round in a little-known natural reserve. Scientists and young interns from around the world are travelling thousands of kilometres to benefit from the programme, and the funds from her 2012 Rolex Award are enabling her to expand her vision for her environmental project.

When she set out for Paraguay from her native Scotland in 2008 to take part in a volunteer programme, Atkinson did so with a sense of adventure. No one she knew had visited Paraguay. “I liked the idea of being a pioneer.” But on arrival she quickly understood that she was totally unprepared. The trip from the airport was not pleasant for the 22-year-old. “From the taxi window, I realized I had landed in the third world and I didn’t much like it. The poverty and my inability to understand what anyone was saying frightened me.”

However, over the next few months, she gained confidence as she got to know the culture and the people – whom she describes as “very friendly, but exceptionally shy”. During a break in her volunteer work, she discovered a natural lake, Laguna Blanca, which she had never heard of previously. “From then on, I didn’t want to leave, and cancelled and rebooked my flight three times in order to stay,” Atkinson explains.

Her personal life, even her way of thinking, has been transformed in the past few years. Paraguay is now her home. “Watching the people and how they live their lives was what made me decide I wanted to be in Paraguay. There seemed so much to learn,” she says. She spends 11 months of every year there as she overcomes obstacles in her project, which has the potential to bring major benefits to the nation and the natural environment.

Sound science
Trained in genetics and biology in Glasgow, she has given her project a sound scientific foundation. And she is about to undertake a course of research and study (by distance learning) to gain her Master’s degree in zoology from Miami University in Ohio. But, she points out, Paraguay has taught her things about problem-solving she could not learn from any university. “The solutions to everyday problems here, which are different from those that occur in the Western world, are so simple and logical – it’s this approach to problem-solving that really attracts me about taking on the project in Paraguay,” she explains.

In April 2010, Atkinson co-founded Para La Tierra, an NGO dedicated to the conservation of Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca. The 804-hectare reserve lies at the confluence of three major eco-regions: the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado (both globally endangered habitats) and the Bosque Central of Paraguay. The eponymously named Laguna Blanca is an artesian lake and the reserve is home to a wide diversity of plants and wildlife, including a number of rare, threatened and endangered species; 283 species of birds have been recorded to date, including 12 globally endangered and four near-threatened species. The flora and fauna of this nation, sometimes described as “South America´s Forgotten Corner”, have received relatively little attention from scientists up to now.

“It’s like paradise,” Atkinson says of the reserve. “I live near the lake, it’s always sunny and each morning I walk out onto the beach. And there is so much to see. There are three different habitats each with different species on the reserve. You never get bored.”

But there are threats to this paradise and to the country’s wildlife – hence Atkinson’s sense of urgency. She explains that a boom in industrial farming has boosted Paraguay’s economy, but the resulting intensive cattle ranching and soya and eucalyptus cash-cropping are encroaching on the natural environment. And, she also adds pointedly, these economic developments have done little to improve the lives of people who live near the reserve.

Under Atkinson’s leadership, Para La Tierra, with three full-time and two part-time staff, is coming to the rescue of the reserve and nearby residents through a combination of scientific research and community outreach. Atkinson and her colleagues are providing the scientific basis for the conservation of the numerous globally threatened species and habitats at the reserve, establishing a collection of local species that has already become a reference for scientists in Paraguay and further afield.

Since its creation, the organization has welcomed more than 150 temporary volunteers and professional scientists, carrying out a total of 29 distinct research projects. Ten articles have been published in scientific journals, with a further 12 in preparation. As well as the initial research station she founded at Laguna Blanca in 2010, Atkinson is now “90 per cent confident” that she will be able to set up another museum in the Paraguayan Chaco. With natural and human history exhibits, it will represent a substantial achievement in the second stage of Atkinson’s project.

Changing local attitudes is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Atkinson and her colleagues. “The adults living in the surrounding communities [near the reserve] initially had no concept of conservation or the value of the habitats near to where they live,” says Atkinson. “All the information we provide in workshops and meetings is new to them, making it difficult for them to believe our words. Some are also angry with us due to the rule changes after the declaration of the reserve in February 2010, prohibiting them from hunting for food and logging for firewood. But in recent months we’ve noticed more local people are coming onto the reserve and more are joining our workshops. These are signs that attitudes are changing, but it’s just the beginning of a long-term process.”

In the long term, ecotourism will bring income to the local community and, for the immediate benefit of residents, Atkinson’s team has built, with part of her Rolex Awards funds, three poultry coops, in villages near the reserve. The coops are providing 300 to 500 chickens every six weeks, ensuring a supply of eggs and poultry for 50 families to consume and sell. The funds from her Award have been extremely useful, Atkinson explains. And the public response to her project, following press coverage in the UK of her Rolex Award, has been “overwhelming”, with both ordinary citizens and people with projects contacting her to ask how they can get involved.

Asked at what point in its development her ambitious project now stands, Atkinson laughs good-naturedly. “Oh, I’m still at the beginning. I need to expand it so that there’s a network of Para La Tierras. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say it’s finished. I want to do so much. But the Rolex Award has definitely been a springboard to make things happen.”

Edmund Doogue

Published in 2013

Rolex Laureate - Tomas Diagne

Another example of what a brand ambassador could and should be, allow me to acquaint you with a Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureate from 1998, Tomas Diagne and his project aimed to protect the wild tortoises of Senegal.

Here is a link to the Tortoise Village in Senegal -
http://www.villagetortues.com

Courtesy of Rolex

And here's the rundown, straight from Rolex -

“The reintroduction of sulcata into the wild is our ultimate aim. All our work here is orientated towards that goal.”

Tomas Diagne’s Tortoise Village at Noflaye, Senegal, attracts tourists and volunteers from around the world keen to learn more about Senegal’s seven species of tortoise, including the biggest land tortoise in Africa, Geochelone sulcata.

This famous animal, which can live for 150 years, was becoming more and more rare until Diagne, a major figure in African nature conservation, decided to save it.

Tortoise Village

"You’re going to turn my house into a zoo!" Papa Diagne used to say as his tiny garden in Dakar was filled with chickens, snakes and a menagerie of other animals collected by his 12-year-old son, Tomas. "He was not keen on the idea," Tomas now recalls. "The animals made a mess, and I was neglecting my studies."

Today, Tomas Diagne, aged 30, is well known throughout West Africa and abroad as a dedicated, perceptive and energetic conservationist. "I am originally a city boy, and should have been interested in cars, not animals," he explains. But as a boy he used to wake up early each morning to listen to the birds in the local park before going to school.

Later, when his father bought a farm in Sangalkam, 35 kilometres northeast of Dakar, Tomas spent his school holidays in the bush. "I’d gather lots of specimens and bring them back to the house to study them. At first I was interested in snakes, but one day I came across some tortoises."

He had in fact collected Geochelone sulcata, the African spurred tortoise. Searching for information about sulcata, he came across an article by Bernard Devaux, a French tortoise specialist.

"I sent him photographs of the tortoises, and he wrote back telling me that this species was highly endangered," Diagne recalls. "I felt that this was tragic, and I wanted to do something to protect them." Tomas Diagne’s future was determined by that wish.

In 1992, with only three tortoises, Diagne set up a sulcata sanctuary on his father’s farm in Sangalkam. He wanted to establish a tortoise village modelled on the Village des Tortues set up by Devaux in the south of France. The following year, with help from Devaux, Diagne established S.O.S. Sulcata, a project aimed at collecting tortoises and breeding them at Sangalkam.

Moving In
Using radio broadcasts, Diagne raised awareness of S.O.S. Sulcata, and the public began donating their pet tortoises. Diagne also persuaded the government to allow tortoises seized by customs in Europe to be repatriated to Senegal and sent to Sangalkam. In 1997, Diagne opened the village to the public. "I had a lot of success with the radio, and I saw that my father’s farm would not be big enough, so I started looking for a larger piece of land."

Devaux encouraged Diagne, suggesting he contact the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) office in Senegal, which in turn urged Diagne to visit the Protected Forest of Noflaye, not far from his father’s farm. "The director at that time was Patrick Bouland," remembers Diagne. "He took me to see the reserve — it was the first step in setting up the [new] village." The next task was to obtain permission from the government to use part of the reserve for the project.

Abdoulaye Kane, then director of Senegal’s Department of Water and Forests, and now head of IUCN Senegal, was a key ally. "It took me some time to convince him," Diagne says, "but once he was convinced, he was like a father to me — it was as if he adopted me."

In 1997, Diagne gained permission to use 15 hectares of reserve land. Devaux’s organisation, SOPTOM, made a cash gift to allow work to begin. A well was sunk and a 2km fence was built around the land to protect the vegetation from the local zebu herds.

In 1998, Tomas Diagne was selected as an Associate Laureate in the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, and the following year the European Union approved a grant of €152,000. "The Rolex Award helped secure the funding," Diagne comments. "It was like a recommendation." Work on the village went ahead, and the Noflaye Tortoise Village opened on 17 March 2001. "The new village was planned to receive large numbers of visitors without disturbing the tortoises," Diagne explains. "It has room for 3,000 tortoises, while the old one only had space for 800."

Tourist Attraction
Part of Noflaye’s success is due to its location on what Diagne calls the "tourist trail", between Rufisque and Lake Rose, the finishing point for the Paris-Dakar Rally. Giant silver-grey baobab trees dominate the landscape, towering over a patchwork of thorny bush and bare, ochre-coloured earth.

The village is a cluster of thatched buildings. "The main building has offices, an exhibition hall and accommodation," explains Diagne. "It is dedicated to Théodore Monod, the first naturalist to study Noflaye’s wildlife."

The tortoises are kept in enclosures with log fences typical of those used in Senegal for cattle. "One of the unique things about sulcata," says Diagne, "is that they burrow dens to protect themselves from heat in the dry season and in cold nights during the rainy season." A concrete wall has been sunk a metre into the earth around the adult enclosure to prevent underground escapes. In the wild the tortoises retreat into tunnels during the dry season where they undergo a form of hibernation.

Between October and April the foreign tourists arrive, in particular Germans and French-speaking Europeans. "On the weekends, many people come from Dakar," says Diagne. "I’m delighted that they know about the village and that they are interested in nature." Local schools bring busloads of children. The entrance fee is €4.60 for foreigners and €0.80 for Senegalese. "We received 4,500 visitors in its first year," says Diagne.

Mating takes place all year round, but especially after the rainy season when jousts between males competing for females can be fatal. Males have a hook-like outgrowth of shell below their necks which they use to overturn their opponent. Once on its back, a tortoise cannot right itself. "In the village we can help them," explains Diagne, "but in the wild they die from heat exposure."

Protecting the Young
Females usually lay two batches of 14 to 21 eggs between December and April. Roughly the size of table-tennis balls, the eggs are buried 15cm in the earth. "Skunks and monitor lizards, or any animal with a good sense of smell will find them," says Diagne. So the eggs are collected immediately by his staff and buried in the "hatchery" where they are protected by wire mesh. "The eggs are not incubated by body heat like mammals or birds," he says. "They rely on the heat of the sun to develop so the incubation period depends on the weather." In hot years, eggs hatch after 2.5 months, but it can take up to four months in cooler years.

"The sex of the tortoise is determined by the temperature during incubation," Diagne explains. "The warmer eggs become male and the cooler ones female."

The hatchlings have extremely soft skin, and are vulnerable to predators. "In the wild only 1 per cent of hatchlings survive but here 80 per cent reach the adult stage." In 2001, 375 sulcata were born in the village.

Three-year-olds, digging their first dens, are moved to the juvenile enclosure. When they reach 3kg, at the age of four or five years, the tortoises learn to fend for themselves. "Away from the tourists, we have a large adaptation enclosure," says Diagne, "where the young learn to survive in the wild." The tortoises eat wild plants and have minimum human contact. Tortoises that have spent a long time in captivity are generally not capable of surviving in the wild. "They stay in the village for breeding," Diagne continues. But some escapees have managed to stay alive. "Sometimes I come across them in the reserve outside the village. I’m delighted to see that they can survive."

The Ultimate Goal
The village’s biggest tortoise is 46-year-old "Bill", weighing 96kg, a little lighter than the sulcata maximum male weight of about 100kg. Females are smaller, their maximum weight never passing 60kg. Seventy-year-old Sibille (40kg) is the village’s oldest denizen, but she is barely middle-aged for a species that can live for 150 years. Tomas Diagne’s favourite is Lat Dior named after Lat Dior Diop, a national hero who fought against the French in the 19th century. "He was the first large tortoise that we were given," says Diagne, "and he attacks people — he has no fear of man. For me, he symbolises his species’ fight for survival. I tell him that he can fight against humans, but he can’t win. I tell him I have another way for his species to survive."

The village is also home to six other species of tortoise and turtle — one terrestrial and five aquatic. The land tortoise is the West African hinged tortoise that lives in the forests of southern Senegal. Hinged tortoises can fold the rear section of the shell under their bodies for extra protection. The aquatic turtles include the Nile softshell and the Senegal softshell, covered in soft, leathery skin rather than rigid armour. These agile predators live on fish in big rivers. The other three species belong to the mud turtle family that inhabits sluggish, muddy rivers and marshes.

"The reintroduction of sulcata into the wild is our ultimate aim," says Diagne. "All our work here is orientated towards that goal." Noflaye sulcata will be reintroduced to the Ferlo, the Sahel region in northeast Senegal. But much work needs to be carried out before sulcata can be returned to its natural habitat. "We need to ensure that they will be able to survive," says Diagne. This will mean undertaking research into the habitat, as well as ensuring that local people support the project. Diagne is working to raise the €76,000 necessary for the reintroduction programme.

The programme’s nucleus will be the Louggouré Tioli Special Reserve in the Ferlo region. In the 1990s, Diagne worked with IUCN and the Senegalese Directorate of National Parks to set up the nature reserve which would serve as a haven for sulcata as well as other Sahel species. Senegal’s president, Abdou Diouf, signed a decree in February 1999 creating the 2,600ha reserve and declaring that the reserve would protect the Sahel fauna, "particularly the tortoise Geochelone sulcata".

The need to protect Senegal’s wild sulcata has become an extremely urgent task. "There was a pocket of sulcata holding out in the northern Ferlo," reports Diagne, "but two years ago, there was a fire and the population dropped. Experts estimate that there are now only a total of 30 individuals left in the wild."

Conservation at Heart
Diagne has been asked to take in marine turtles from the Galapagos and the Seychelles, but he is adamant that the village is only for local land species. "There will never be more than the seven species of tortoise that are found in Senegal. I will not bring in any sensational species to attract tourists"

Five people are employed in the village, which also has accommodation for scientists and volunteers, including four volunteers from Europe currently working at Noflaye. "They write to me from abroad asking to come and work with us," says Diagne, "but there are so many, I have to turn them down."

The village aims to be fully self-financing within the first five years. "We now cover 70 per cent of our costs from entrance fees," the Rolex Associate Laureate says.

Diagne has been referred to as the "backbone" of the work to save the spurred tortoise. He is a member of IUCN’s Specialist Groups on Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles, and Marine Turtles. He is also responsible for the World Wildlife Fund’s African turtle work, coordinating field groups monitoring turtle nesting areas all over Africa.

But his interest in nature conservation goes far beyond tortoises. "People think that I am only interested in tortoises, but there is no one species that should take priority — it is the whole ecosystem that counts." Diagne, who describes himself as a "global naturalist", has received funding from the Total-Fina-Elf Foundation for a project to protect the mangroves of central Senegal and is preparing a project to save the baobab tree, Senegal’s national symbol.

Rolf Hogan

Published in 2002

- See more at: http://www.rolexawards.com/profiles/associate_laureates/tomas_diagne/project#sthash.E8AzPRjn.dpuf

- See more at: http://www.rolexawards.com/profiles/associate_laureates/tomas_diagne#sthash.dBHHYwrk.dpuf