Whitley Awards, 2021

May 14, 2021

Whitley Awards are called “Green Oscar”. In 2021, the Whitley Award was won by Nuklu Phom of Nagaland. He is the only Indian to receive the award.

Whitley Awards are presented annually by the Whitley Fund for Nature. It is presented to recognise grass root level conservation leaders.
It involves process of reference, application and interview.
The Whitley Fund for Nature was established by Edward Whitley in 1994. It has so far given 16 million pounds to support the work of two hundred environmental heroes.

It works to find out local conservationists in the regions of resource-poor, biodiversity rich countries.
It supports projects based on science and community involvement
It also works to boost the national and international winners who address challenges faced by biodiversity worldwide.
The winners receive 40,000 pounds.

Nuklu Phom is creating “Biodiversity Peace Corridors”. The main objective of the extend the “Yaongyimchen Community Biodiversity Area”.
Apart from conservation of wildlife and environmental protection he also extends his works to health, education and micro finance.
Lemasachenlok Society was founded by him. It has worked towards sensitising the locals about the Amur Falcons. It has set up three reserves that helped to increase the number of roosting Falcons.
Nuklu Phom is populary known as the “Amur Falcon Man of Nagaland”.

Amur Falcon breeds in Northern China and Siberia. During winter, the Amur Falcon migrate to India and then over the Arabian Sea to Southern Africa.
The increasing concern is that people have started hunting Amur Falcon. In India, more than 14,000 are hunted annually. The State Governments have declared ban on hunting Amur Falcons. In spite of the ban, the hunting of Amur Falcon is increasing.
It is listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN.
Nagaland is called the “Falcon Capital of the World”.