Steppe above the rest

MAJOR GRASSLAND RESTORATION PROJECT CELEBRATES TOP NATURE WIN

Today (6th November 2024), the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative in Kazakhstan is celebrating the win of the 'Protect and Restore Nature' category of the prestigious Earthshot prize. 'Altyn Dala', meaning 'Golden Steppe' in Kazakh, has been recognised for its major successes to conserve and restore 75 million hectares (185 milliion acres) of the ancient steppe, wetlands, and deserts for the benefit of Saiga Antelope and other globally important wildlife.

As a long-term collaborative partnership between Kazakhstan's Ministry of Ecology & Natural Resources, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), Fauna & Flora, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Altyn Dala was initially founded in 2005 to prevent the extinction of Saiga Antelope. Targeted by criminal poaching gangs for their horns, the Saiga Antelope population collapsed by 2005, reaching lows of fewer than 40,000. However, sustained research, anti-poaching, anti-smuggling and public education efforts have since enabled Saiga Antelope populations to now recover to an unprecedented level of over 2.8 million in 2024. This represents one of the most dramatic recoveries of a mammal ever recorded!

The Altyn Dala partners are also working to revive a series of other priority threatened species, including Steppe Eagles, Sociable Lapwing, Kulan (wild ass) and Przewalski's Horse - the latter reintroduced in 2024 after a 200 year absence.

The funding provided by The Earthshot Prize will further enable Altyn Dala to build the steppe's resilience to climate change impacts, maintain anti-poaching and anti-smuggling activities, recover additional threatened species and connect restored landscapes that function both for wildlife and communities' land uses. They'll also be able to strengthen their workforce and educate school children.

"Becoming a winner of The Earthshot Prize is not only an incredible honour, but also a testament to the power of partnership in conservation" said Vera Voronova, Executive Director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakstan, " With the support of the Prize, we will scale up our initiatives and expand collaboration to attract new knowledge and additional resources."

Beyond Kazakhstan, Altyn Dala say that being recognised as an Earthshot Prize winner will also help the ensure they can share their findings and experiences with other countries with temperate grasslands so they can help benefit nature restoration across the globe.

This is the 4th year of the Prince of Wales' Earthshot Prize, which handed over £1 million to each of the 5 category winners to scale up their projects and help 'repair' our planet. They were whittled down from 2,500 global applicants. The four other category winners are:

- Clean Our Air: Green Africa Youth Organization, who use behavioural change to help communities clean up waste and build circular waste management infrastructure across Africa

- Revive Our Oceans: High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People , an alliance of at least 119 countries with the ambitious goal to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030

- Build a Waste-free World: Keep IT Cool, a Kenyan-based company using solar powered refrigeration to help cut harvest waste for farmers

- Fix Our Climate: Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems,an American company that convert excess heat, produced during the making of steel or cement, into electricity

You can read more information about all of their inspiring projects HERE.

Photos: Altyn Dala/The Earthshot Prize