The Rolex Awards for Enterprise aim to encourage a spirit of enterprise in individuals around the world by supporting pioneering work in science and health, applied technology, exploration and discovery, the environment, and cultural heritage.

Applications are now open for the 2014 Rolex Awards. Rolex is looking for five visionary young men and women ready to tackle the most pressing issues facing our world.

The five Young Laureates will each receive 50,000 Swiss francs (U.S.$54,000) to advance their projects and gain worldwide recognition of their work through an international publicity campaign. They will also receive a Rolex chronometer.

Interested candidates aged between 18 and 30 years old by December 31, 2014, are invited to submit a pre-application in English on www.rolexawards.com. The final deadline for submission is May 31, 2013.

Eligibility criteria

Candidates must be between 18 and 30 years old by December 31, 2014.

Their on-going, concrete projects must improve the quality of life on the planet, expand knowledge of our world or contribute to the betterment of humankind, in the following areas: science and health; applied technology; exploration and discovery; environment; and cultural heritage. (See the 2012 recipients.)

Selection Process

Projects are judged on their feasibility, originality, potential for sustained impact and, above all, on the candidates’ spirit of enterprise. Applicants must show how they will use a Rolex Award to leverage the impact of their projects, and how, through initiative and ingenuity, they will benefit mankind.

Winners are chosen by an international, interdisciplinary and independent Jury of experts. The applications are reviewed by a team of scientific researchers before being presented to the Jury.

For more information, visit www.rolexawards.com.

So who are these Young Laureates? In the near future we hope to invite them to write about themselves and their aspirations here on News Watch. But meanwhile, here is what we have about them from materials released by Rolex today:

Karina Atkinson: Fosters research and responsible tourism in a Paraguayan biodiversity hotspot

Karina Atkinson, a highly resourceful Scottish scientist, has an ambitious goal: to promote Paraguay internationally as a destination for sustainable tourism by protecting and developing – through scientific research and community outreach – a natural reserve in the centre of the country.

Landlocked Paraguay, with a population of more than 6 million, is one of the poorest nations in South America. A boom in farming has boosted the economy, but intensive cattle ranching and soya and eucalyptus cropping have encroached on the natural environment.

Through Para La Tierra, a not-for-profit she co-founded in April 2010, Atkinson is establishing a model of environmental research and education, linked with support to communities living around a 804-hectare reserve, the Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca, in central Paraguay.

The reserve, which is owned by the Duarte family with whom Atkinson has a good working relationship, lies at the confluence of three major eco-regions: the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest, the Cerrado and the Bosque Central of Paraguay. It has an artesian lake and harbours a wide diversity of plants and wildlife, including a number of endangered species; over 300 species of birds have been recorded to date, including 12 globally endangered and four near-threatened species. BirdLife International has designated the reserve an ‘Important Bird Area’. Since May 2010, Para La Tierra, which has a research station and museum at the reserve, has discovered nearly 50 species of fauna that are new to Paraguay.

Atkinson’s project has two main elements. The first focus is on conservation, scientific research, education and security. Thanks to three full-time, two part-time staff and volunteers, Para La Tierra is proving sustainable. The long-term aim is to provide a scientific basis for the conservation of species and habitats at the reserve and to be a source of information for scientists.

Atkinson is training park guards, recruited from the local community, who will also provide outreach and education. Most of the thousands of people living near the reserve are poor and have spent just six years or less at school. Since the reserve’s establishment in February 2010, the local population are no longer able to hunt on the land. To compensate, Para La Tierra will build three poultry houses, in villages near the reserve, and stock them with chickens, giving the people a source of food for consumption and sale. However, the main strategy for engagement with the local community is via education. Workshops and environmental activities have been set up to inform locals about the value of the reserve.

Atkinson has linked a primary school near Glasgow with a primary school near the reserve, allowing students to share knowledge of their local habitats. She has also organized day internships for students at a local high school to learn about life at an ecological station.

Atkinson’s second focus is ecotourism. Tourists already visit the reserve, but Atkinson wants to draw up to 130 people at a time, principally ecotourists and scientists. The reserve has already hosted more than 150 volunteers, interns and scientists from around the world; 29 projects have been carried out and 10 articles published in scientific journals.

Profile: After growing up in Glasgow, biologist Karina Atkinson discovered Paraguay in 2008. Her love for this nation has changed her life. She lives there, has published a book that is sold on the Internet about her experiences, and is learning the national indigenous language, Guaraní. Atkinson is bringing her training (a BSc from the University of Glasgow) and work in laboratories in Edinburgh and Boston to bear on her position as executive director of Para La Tierra, an NGO dedicated to the conservation of Reserva Natural Laguna Blanca.

Selene Biffi: Reviving traditional storytelling to craft a new narrative

for Afghanistan

Selene Biffi is an Italian social entrepreneur who focuses her work on youth empowerment and education. She aims to establish a school for storytellers in Afghanistan that will preserve traditional Afghan folktales and oral heritage by creating a venue for ageing master storytellers to teach their craft and verbal artistry to younger generations. The skills and practical knowledge acquired will help students uphold the traditional body of tales and learn to create new narratives that carry important developmental messages to impoverished communities.

Many aid workers would be reluctant to return to Afghanistan having been evacuated following an attack in 2009, in which several colleagues were killed. Within only three weeks after this experience, however, Selene Biffi was back at work in Kabul. Her role was to create a textbook for children and young adults as part of a UN programme. But the work was challenging: since only three in 10 people can read and write, international aid programmes struggle with developing appropriate formats for information.

As a solution Biffi started to produce comics and then became aware that perhaps the most potent form of communication in Afghanistan had to be found in the ancient art of storytelling. In Afghan culture, storytelling is the traditional way to impart values, beliefs and information. However, the practice has been waning for many years for a multitude of reasons including the ageing of master storytellers and disruption caused by the war.

Biffi seeks to establish a school in Kabul where young, unemployed Afghans will be trained by master storytellers. The school will provide youth with the skills to create powerful oral stories, skills which can be employed by NGOs to transmit contextually relevant and culturally

appropriate messages about peace and development across Afghanistan. In this way, Afghan communities will be able to access information on critical issues such as health, food security or natural-disaster preparedness, in a familiar manner.

In the first-year pilot, 20 young people aged 18 to 25 will take part in a three-month workshop learning subjects such as community development, English, arts and, of course, storytelling, all taught in Dari, one of Afghanistan’s official languages. The students, both male and female from any ethnic group, will learn traditional verbal artistry and memory techniques from master storytellers and other professionals, improving their knowledge of storytelling, creative writing and public performing. Upon successful completion of the courses, they will be linked up to local NGOs and institutions for internships.

The Rolex Award will enable Biffi to cover operating costs for the first year and set up a website to describe the school’s mission while also encouraging Afghans all over the world to share traditional stories online. To secure the financial sustainability of the project, the school plans to offer services to NGOs and other agencies operating in Kabul. Ultimately, she plans to establish similar schools in other Afghan cities, with the aim of employing 10–20 master storytellers, who will train around 100 students per year.

Profile: Early in life, Selene Biffi developed a social conscience and passion for community development. When she was a teenager her parents helped to build a primary school for marginalized children in India. With only 150 euros, aged 22, Biffi launched an Internet-based NGO, Youth Action for Change, which provides young people in 130 countries with access to education. In 2009, she was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. Biffi has a BS in international economics and management from the Università Bocconi and a NOHA Master’s in Humanitarian Action from University College Dublin. She has a diploma on public policy and leadership from Harvard University and one on social entrepreneurship from INSEAD, among others. Biffi is now concentrating on her role as executive director of Plain Ink, which she founded in 2010 with her personal savings. She uses books, comics and storytelling to support communities around the world to build sustainable livelihoods.

Sumit Dagar: Developing a Braille smart phone for India’s blind people

Sumit Dagar is an Indian interaction designer with an interest in designing user-centric technology for minority user groups. With millions of blind people in India, Dagar wants to develop a prototype of a Braille phone with a tangible-touch responsive display panel that will give blind people a multitude of functionalities and improve greatly their daily lives.

While pursuing engineering studies in information and communication technology, a summer internship in a remote Gujarat rural village sparked Sumit Dagar’s interest in how disadvantaged communities might be helped by technology. Now qualified as an interaction designer, Dagar is devoting himself to designing technology that will allow marginalized people to benefit from advances in communications.

According to the latest World Health Organization estimates, 285 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired, 22 per cent of whom are in India. Dagar wants to help India’s millions of blind people by producing a prototype Braille mobile phone, which he hopes to develop into a smartphone. He began to work on the concept for his innovative device, which integrates an interactive touch-sensitive Braille display panel, alongside his studies for his Master’s degree at the National Institute of Design.

The principle behind Dagar’s phone is simple. The display panel surface is laid out with a grid of tiny bumps whose height can be varied independent of each other. Changes to the height of the components allow the grid to display touch-discernible shapes, figures, maps and simple Braille text. Functionalities planned for the Braille smartphone include the ability for users to: capture images as height maps that can be compared against a saved database of objects and people to allow identification; use global positioning system (GPS) technology with height-variable maps to allow independent travel; and convert text photographed with the device’s camera into Braille.

Technology that converts English text output on a mobile phone screen into speech has been available for a decade. However, speech recognition in an English voice is not helpful for the millions of people who do not understand the language well and there are safety concerns as audio signals can mask important environment sounds. A Braille phone can offer richer information sets like graphics, diagrams and spatial orientation, which can be represented in a simpler way using touch interaction, giving a more satisfying user experience.

Dagar is collaborating with the L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad, a WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness. Patients have been involved in the primary user research and validation and the institute has pledged its support for prototype development and testing. The Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi is providing the technology for the phone’s Braille display and a colleague in the Indian city of Rajkot is leading on the electronic materials.

So far, Dagar has self-funded his work. The Rolex Award will allow him to cover start-up costs for his company Kriyate Designs, and operating costs for the first year. Dagar hopes to have a basic version of Braille Phone market-ready in late next year and the Braille smartphone within the next five years. Although the cost of the device is currently difficult to estimate, Dagar plans to make the Braille smartphone affordable to rural India’s millions of blind people.

Profile: Dagar has a desire to exploit the opportunities offered by technology to improve the lives of impoverished people and enable them to participate more fully in society. He holds a post-graduate diploma in information and interface design (2010) from the National Institute of Design, and a Bachelor of technology (2008) from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology. He received the Pride of National Institute of Design award in 2009 and, in 2010, presented his work at Space-X, an exchange forum on information design for blind people, and at the India Human Computer Interaction Conference. He was selected as a TED Fellow to present his Braille smartphone at the TED2011 Conference in the United States.

Arun Krishnamurthy: Restoring urban lakes in Chennai, India

Arun Krishnamurthy is a committed young Indian environmentalist who combines his passions for nature, education and youth through his non-profit organization, the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI). Rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in several of India’s major cities is leading to encroachment on many urban water bodies, resulting in the partial or complete loss of biodiversity. Krishnamurthy proposes to tackle this pressing issue with the sustainable, community-based restoration of Lake Kilkattalai in Chennai.

Krishnamurthy has built up an impressive portfolio of work in the environmental sector after quitting a promising career at Google to focus on his passion for developing community participation projects in conservation and environmental education.

Through EFI, Krishnamurthy has recruited 900 volunteers through school programmes and street theatre for conservation projects. Most of the volunteers are students aged under 20 years who receive conservation training from Krishnamurthy covering practical environment work, effective communication and how to chart a career as an environmentalist. Krishnamurthy partly finances EFI and its seven part-time staff through Krish Info Media, a communications company he founded after leaving Google.

Krishnamurthy has already cleaned up lakes in New Delhi and Hyderabad. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, was once known for its lakes and gardens but uncontrolled urbanization has degraded many of them. Depletion of the lakes has also affected the city’s ability to replenish scarce water supplies via the annual monsoon and urban habitats for the region’s wetland wildlife are literally drying up. The use of urban lakes for dumping of garbage and effluent has also made them a health hazard.

The Rolex Award will fund a programme to breathe new life into Lake Kilkattalai, a 1.5 km2 stretch of polluted water in a newly built-up area of Chennai that is home to 500,000 people. Four stages are planned: mapping of the natural habitat and pollutants; mass garbage clearance; desilting the lake and strengthening the periphery; and reintroduction of native wildlife. As a communications professional, Krishnamurthy is adept at the awareness-raising activities necessary to harness the enthusiasm of student volunteers to participate in the programme. It is hoped that local people will join the students in cleaning up the lake, planting trees and monitoring water quality, at the same time developing a strong sense of community ownership.

Krishnamurthy hopes that Lake Kilkattalai will become an oasis in Chennai, with its reintroduced endemic aquatic species, and newly planted native trees, such as neem, banyan and mango. The project will serve as a prototype for a range of further projects to restore urban wetland in Chennai and beyond.

Profile: Krishnamurthy is passionate about environmental education. A graduate of Madras Christian College, he completed a post-graduate diploma at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He ran Roots & Shoots India, under the Roots & Shoots network, in 2008 and, in 2011, founded his NGO, Environmentalist Foundation of India. He has produced and directed two environmental documentaries, which have been screened nationally and internationally. Elixir Poisoned (2011) highlights the need to protect the aqueous environment and Kurma (2010), for which he received an award, describes the plight of sea turtles. Among his other commendations is a Google Alumni Impact Award in 2011. Recently he was chosen as a Youth Action Net Fellow by the International Youth Foundation.

Maritza Morales Casanova: Building a park for environmental education in the Yucatán

A young, highly resourceful environmentalist, Maritza Morales Casanova from the state of Yucatán is determined to raise awareness among young people – in particular underprivileged children – on environmental issues, especially water resources and sustainability. To significantly scale up her grassroots action, she is building a major park dedicated to the environment, which is intended to provide educational activities to 64,000 children each year.

The Yucatán Peninsula, in south-eastern Mexico, faces serious problems, as it is geologically composed of permeable limestone (karst). As rainwater sinks quickly into the rock, water gathers in underground wells with the result that the northern half of the peninsula has no rivers or lakes. With such fragile aquifers, pollution, sewage and waste water mismanagement pose major environmental and health issues. The region, with 2 million inhabitants, is also a popular tourist destination, which adds to the environmental pressure. It is largely inhabited by Maya-speaking indigenous communities living in extreme poverty, who have little or no awareness of the need for environmental sustainability.

Across the Yucatán, few schools consistently provide information to students on conservation, despite challenges for the nation’s environment: freshwater consumption is high, there are no sustainable methods of waste disposal and fragile wetlands are being destroyed.

Morales Casanova believes that radical action is needed – and quickly – to educate the next generation and help Mexicans develop healthy patterns in their government policies and their lives in order to protect the environment. The principal aim of her project is to provide high-level environmental education to 50 per cent of students (five to 22 years old) in the Yucatán – approximately 286,000 students during the next five years.

To achieve this, she is building a 7,600 m2 park where local children and their families can learn about environmental issues in an entertaining way, using games designed for children and teenagers. The park, named “Ceiba Pentandra” after a Mayan sacred tree, will be located in Mérida, the capital of Yucatán, which has a population of about 1 million. It will comprise five areas devoted to educational activities, an environmental library and laboratory for 25 teachers and students, a dormitory to host youth from coastal communities who come to the city’s schools and university, an auditorium, museum, open-air theatre, and an aquaculture training area.

Morales Casanova plans to have youngsters, trained through her non-profit organization HUNAB (Humanidad Unida a la Naturaleza en Armonía por el Bienestar, la Bondad y la Belleza), conduct four-hour, daily educational visits for schools and the public. Four times a year, aquaculture workshops will also train 25 families in breeding local freshwater snails for sale.

With a solid track record of persuading government leaders and others of the value of her vision, the Young Laureate’s plans are coming to fruition. The foundation stone for Ceiba Pentandra was laid on 13 May 2012 on land (worth US$211,000) donated by the municipality of Mérida. The Yucatán state government financed the architectural blueprints. The administrative office for the park, along with two education areas and a parking lot, are expected to be ready before the end of 2012, at which point Ceiba Pentandra will be partially opened. Thanks to her Rolex funds, construction has also begun on five interactive classrooms, in which visitors will learn about global warming and climate change; wetland conservation; protection of wildlife (environmental laws, illegal wildlife trade, etc.); recycling of waste; and development of handicrafts using natural materials.

Profile: Maritza Morales Casanova demonstrated in 1995 that she was going to be a major catalyst for change when she launched HUNAB, an NGO for environmental education. She was 10 years old. Three years later, she won Mexico’s national Youth Prize for her proposal to build a specialized area where children and youth could be trained on environmental issues. Morales Casanova has won a string of national and international prizes in the past 10 years. She has also gained a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and undertaken specialized training in social planning, conservation strategy, leadership and freshwater aquaculture – all to aid her environmental work. A focus of her project is the involvement of young people, as she believes everyone is capable of bringing about change. HUNAB, under her leadership, is now operated by 30 children and teenagers, 80 per cent of them female.

The Young Laureates join five traditional Laureates named earlier this year (pictured in the photo above). The 2012 winners bring the total to 125 individuals from 42 countries whose spirit of enterprise and concern for the environment and mankind have earned support and recognition from the Rolex Awards in the last 36 years, in areas including science and health, applied technology, exploration and discovery, the environment, and preservation of cultural heritage.

News Watch interviews Rebecca Irvin, head of philanthropy at Rolex, to learn more about the awards.

What are the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and why were they set up?

The Rolex Awards were founded out of a conviction that the company had a responsibility to make a contribution to making the world a better place and to foster values we believe in; ingenuity, determination, excellence and above all, spirit of enterprise. The Rolex Awards fund projects that touch humanity, improving life or what we know about the planet or preserving the environment. They were established in 1976 and now have an astonishingly rich legacy, from protecting threatened species such as the tiny seahorse, to supporting inventions that provide a simple solution to a longstanding problem, like providing light in places without electricity.

What are the Awards in terms of recognition and benefits?

The Awards recognise individuals who have enterprise, that is, the kind of qualities – grit and determination, passion and integrity – that it takes to pursue a great idea and make it happen.

Awards are presented every two years and are open to anyone from any country, of any age. This year we had 3,500 applicants from 154 countries. The five winners each receive 100,000 Swiss francs and a Rolex chronometer and the benefits of an international publicity campaign that puts the Laureates on the world stage.

Who judges the Awards?

Every two years we put together an independent selection panel of 8-12 people from all over the world to advise us as to the best candidates for an Award. They typically include world-renowned experts in science, education and the humanities, as well as explorers and entrepreneurs. They are people who embody the kind of spirit of enterprise we are looking to acknowledge and support.

The Rolex Awards for Enterprise support pioneering work in five areas: applied technology, cultural heritage, environment, exploration and discovery, and science and health. What are some practical examples of the achievements of people who have won awards in these areas?

It has been a great privilege for Rolex to support extraordinary people such as Chanda Shroff who has transformed the lives of  22,000 women in India’s Kutch region. She has revived the area’s exquisite embroidery through her NGO, Shrujan. She found a market for their work, provided the women with an income and at the same time saved an important cultural heritage. Before she began her work, families were being forced to sell their heirlooms due to drought. Now their lives are enriched and so are their family incomes.

Wijaya Godakumbara is an inspirational Sri Lankan surgeon who was so disturbed by the number of burns he saw caused by dangerous oil lamps that he designed a safe, low-cost lamp. Some 800,000 of these lamps have been distributed.

Another example is a Swiss woman, Anita Studer, who saved a forest in Brazil so that she could study a blackbird that lived there. She has now launched forestation programmes across Brazil that have planted 5.5 million trees. She has also provided training and livelihoods to young people who otherwise faced a very bleak future.

Who are the Young Laureates?

Since 2010, every second series of Awards is reserved for applications from people aged between 18 and 30 years. They are selected for their potential to become tomorrow’s leaders. They are chosen by the Jury for ground-breaking projects that will bring positive change to the environment or local communities and beyond.

The 2012 series was open to all ages, with no particular provision for awards for Young Laureates. However, due to a five-fold increase in applications from people aged 30 and under for the 2012 series, Rolex asked this year’s Jury to select, additionally, five young winners. They receive 50,000 Swiss francs each, a Rolex chronometer and the benefits of an international publicity campaign.

Why is the Awards ceremony being held in India for the first time?

Because India is demonstrating how great things happen when the spirit of enterprise meets creativity, ingenuity, determination and tenacity. Their entrepreneurial spirit is changing the world. That is a perfect fit with the Rolex Awards.

Swiss watchmaker Rolex announced five awards for Young Laureates at a press conference in New Delhi, India, today “to encourage leadership and excellence in the next generation and to acknowledge a surge of applications from young people for the Rolex Awards for Enterprise this year.”

The Young Laureates, who have inspirational projects in Mexico, India, Afghanistan and Paraguay, impressed award judges with their passion and commitment to create positive change in their own communities and beyond, Rolex said in a news statement. Each will receive 50,000 Swiss francs (U.S.$54,000) and a Rolex chronometer.

The 2012 Young Laureates are: 

Karina Atkinson, 27, Scotland – is developing a scientific research center at a biologically rich reserve in Paraguay and using community outreach to educate the surrounding impoverished communities about the value of conservation.

Selene Biffi, 30, Italy – is establishing a storytelling school in Afghanistan to preserve the country’s oral heritage, and provide youth with the skills to help NGOs deliver vital health and development information.

Sumit Dagar, 29, India – wants India’s millions of blind people to participate more fully in society by giving them access to the digital revolution through a Braille smartphone developed for their local conditions.

Arun Krishnamurthy, 25, India – is motivating students and community volunteers to restore severely polluted urban lakes in Chennai, before taking on other urban water bodies in the region.

Maritza Morales Casanova, 28, Mexico – is building an environmental park in the Yucatán where children can have fun learning about conservation and become involved themselves in educating other young people on sustainability.

 

“These young pioneers have an amazing social consciousness, the commitment to help others, and the determination to turn enterprising ideas into reality.”

“These young pioneers have an amazing social consciousness, the commitment to help others, and the determination to turn enterprising ideas into reality. We believe the Rolex Awards will help these inspiring young leaders reach their full potential and propel their inspiring projects forward,” said Rebecca Irvin, head of philanthropy at Rolex. (Read a News Watch interview with Irvin about the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.)

Next Generation of Leaders

Rolex introduced awards for Young Laureates in 2009 to encourage the next generation of leaders. “Under the structure of that programme the next awards were due in 2014. However, due to a five-fold increase in applications from young people under 30 for the longstanding Rolex Awards programme, this year’s Jury was asked to select five Young Laureates. Rolex received a record number of 3,512 applications from 154 countries for the 2012 series,” Rolex said in its statement.

The five Young Laureates are being presented in India alongside the five traditional winners announced earlier this year. Sergei Bereznuk (Russian Federation), Barbara Block (United States of America), Erika Cuéllar (Bolivia), Mark Kendall (Australia) and Aggrey Otieno (Kenya) won Rolex Awards for projects ranging from marine research, revolutionary vaccine technology and tiger conservation.

Rolex is holding the 2012 Awards ceremony in India for the first time in tribute to the enterprising spirit that is driving the country, the news release added. The Laureates receive their awards in New Delhi, while the Young Laureates, who were introduced to the international media today, will be honored in Switzerland next year.

The 2012 winners bring the total to 125 individuals from 42 countries whose spirit of enterprise and concern for the environment and mankind have earned support and recognition from the Rolex Awards in the last 36 years, in areas including science and health, applied technology, exploration and discovery, the environment, and preservation of cultural heritage.

“Laureates are chosen by a Jury of international experts who themselves embody the spirit of enterprise that the Awards seek to promote. The Jury this year included scientists, explorers, conservationists, doctors, educators and entrepreneurs from around the world,” Rolex explained.

Earlier this year Rolex announced the five winners of the 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, who are being honored in New Delhi, India,  on November 27. This profile looks at the work of Mark Kendall, bioengineer and innovative scientist who is developing the Nanopatch, a syringe-free method of giving people vaccines.

“Mark Kendall is developing an inexpensive and highly efficient way to reduce the annual death toll of millions of people worldwide from infectious diseases,” says Rolex in materials for this week’s Rolex Awards ceremony. “Many of these fatalities can be prevented by vaccines, but the traditional syringe-and-needle method – invented in 1853 – is holding vaccines back. First, this method injects vaccine into muscle, which has few immune cells, missing our immune “sweet spot”. It is expensive and presents numerous difficulties – with vaccines requiring refrigeration in many countries where electricity supplies are uncertain.”

Says Rolex:

“With the “Nanopatch” that Professor Kendall is developing at a cutting-edge bio-engineering research institute at the University of Queensland, in Australia, a host of problems linked to the traditional needle and syringe will be swept away.

“An eminent bio-engineer with an impressive record as an innovative scientist during his eight years in a senior post at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, Kendall was persuaded by the University of Queensland to return to his native Brisbane six years ago to be one of the research leaders at the new Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology where he is developing the Nanopatch.

“His Rolex Award should allow Kendall to fast-track development of the Nanopatch for the developing world, where most deaths from infectious diseases occur.”

A laboratory scientist, Nicole Van der Burg, inspects some Nanopatches in the laboratory of Vaxxas, which was set up to develop the commercial arm of the project. Brisbane, Australia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Julian Kingma.

“The Nanopatch, which is about a square centimetre in size, places vaccine directly into areas where immune cells are abundant. Most current vaccines are injected by syringe, requiring a relatively large dose of vaccine per shot – and raising potential problems with needle injuries, contamination and disposal.

“The syringe-free method being developed by Kendall uses an applicator which propels the Nanopatch and its microprojections – painlessly – onto a superficial layer of the skin where target immune cells are most numerous. The process does not draw blood, so the risk of infection is greatly reduced.

“The Nanopatch is coated with dry vaccine, so no refrigeration is required. This, together with lower vaccine doses, drastically reduces all costs, including transport. In the long term, Nanopatches could probably be administered by community workers or teachers, thus avoiding the need for trained medical staff to be present.

“Kendall and his team of researchers in Brisbane have successfully tested the Nanopatch on mice. With funds from his Rolex Award, he will now focus on testing and finessing the patch for the developing world, beginning with a mock trial, using Nanopatches without vaccine in Papua New Guinea to test how well they perform in developing world conditions.”

Professor Mark Kendall uses the device he designed and patented to attach a Nanopatch to a child’s forearm. Brisbane, Australia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Julian Kingma.

“After refining and improving the Nanopatch further, Kendall aims to launch clinical trials in PNG to vaccinate women against human papilloma virus (HPV), which can lead to cervical cancer, a leading cause of death in young women in the developing world.

“Professor Kendall already has a strong record of achievement, having helped pioneer an earlier skin targeting technology called the Gene Gun (firing vaccine particles to the skin using rocket technology) – from idea through to product – during his tenure at Oxford. If trials of his Nanopatch are successful, it is likely to be on the market in 10 years and vaccines will be adapted for use with the device.

“Described in the Australian media as a “paradigm shift” and “game-changing technology” in the field of vaccination, the Nanopatch has the potential to revolutionize the process of administering vaccines, making the process far easier, cheaper and much less intimidating for the many people who fear needles. Millions of lives are likely to be saved thanks to the ingenuity and determination of Mark Kendall and his team.”

A stereo microscope (pictured) allows Professor Mark Kendall to study a Nanopatch with the high degree of detail necessary to produce this microtechnology. Brisbane, Australia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Julian Kingma.

“The Rolex Award has already helped spark an acceleration towards use of the Nanopatches in the developing world,” says Mark Kendall of his team’s progress on his project in the past few months. “We have formed an outstanding project team, including collaborators on the ground in Papua New Guinea. We have designed and manufactured our very first Nanopatch applicators specifically for developing world use.”

The team travelled to Papua New Guinea in mid-October 2012, taking three prototypes of the Nanopatch which were given to local health care workers to apply to hospital patients in what Kendall describes as “a usability of device trial”. The health-care workers received detailed instructions and were observed as they applied the Nanopatches. This, along with tests on the packaging and transport of the devices, is part of the rigorous process of finessing the Nanopatch and all associated processes for use in the developing world. The results of the trial are now being evaluated.

In other developments, a partnership has been formed with Merck, one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers. “This is an important step forward in accelerating the Nanopatch along the pipeline to become a vaccine delivery product,” Kendall says.

Earlier this year Rolex announced the five winners of the 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, who are being honored in New Delhi, India,  on November 27. This profile looks at the work of Aggrey Otieno, founder of the grass-roots organization Pambazuko Mashinani and recipient of an award from the Clinton Global Initiative University and funding from the Ford Foundation Fellowships Program. An advocate of a variety of social causes for nearly a decade, Otieno was motivated to tackle the high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality in Nairobi’s slums when his sister developed serious obstetric problems while in labor at home at night.

Korogocho, Nairobi’s fourth-largest slum, is home to an estimated 200,000 people in an area of only 370 acres (1.5 square kilometers), which is troubled by widespread insecurity, substandard sanitation and deep poverty, says Rolex in a news release about Aggrey Otieno’s work. “An estimated 300 women experience post-partum hemorrhage and 200 newborn babies die there every year due to the lack of obstetric medical facilities and a means of getting to hospital, as well as the fact that the local birth attendants need assistance during emergencies.”

Aggrey Otieno in Safe Delivery Advocate (SDA) Grace Anyango’s clinic. Otieno’s NGO will train birth attendants to become SDAs, allowing them to be recognized by the government. Korogocho slum, Nairobi, Kenya, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Tomas Bertelsen.

“In Korogocho, the maternal mortality ratio is roughly 700 women out of 100,000, compared with 13 out of 100,000 in the United States,” Rolex says in news materials about this week’s awards ceremony.

“After studying in the United States, Aggrey Otieno returned to the slum, his birthplace, to improve the health of his community by empowering its people. With his knowledge of the area, Otieno, who has gained a well-deserved reputation as a valiant champion of the poor and vulnerable residents of Korogocho, is well placed to drive forward his project to build a telemedicine centre with a 24-hour, on-call doctor and van, thereby helping to prevent many deaths.

“Under the auspices of the non-profit organization Pambazuko Mashinani – of which he is founder and executive director – Otieno will use his Rolex Award funds to train birth attendants to recognize when complications are occurring so that they can alert staff at the centre by text message when an emergency arises. These qualified workers and doctors will give instant medical advice and, if needed, dispatch a van to transport the woman to hospital.

“From his previous work in areas such as TB prevention, Otieno understands the need to develop a complementary, outreach component to raise awareness of maternal health issues, including hygiene, family planning and nutrition among thousands of local women.

“To accomplish this, he and his colleagues will create educational videos, which will be shown in hospital waiting rooms, and produce programmes, which will be disseminated through text messages and community radio. Otieno hopes to target 25,000 women with his campaign. His project not only has the potential of saving the lives of women and newborns, it should improve the health and well-being of all mothers and children in the slum.”

The Rolex Award will also be used to build the telemedicine centre. A doctor will be available at all times, with a roster of five medics needed to cover all the shifts. A driver will also be on hand to transport patients, particularly at night when travelling in the slum is not safe. The center along with the awareness-raising campaign, will take Otieno further in his implementation of Pambazuko Mashinani’s objective – to create a society where the poor are empowered to bring about transformative change in their own lives.

“Otieno’s intention is to replicate the project over five years to cover the other slums of Nairobi,” Rolex says. “This would allow the service to reach an estimated 2,200 women and 1,500 newborns requiring urgent care each year.”

Birth attendant Ann Mbala visits Caroline Achieng Odhiambo in her home. Women prefer to give birth at home or in a birth attendant’s clinic both because it is cheaper than hospital. Korogocho slum, Nairobi, Kenya, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Tomas Bertelsen.

Children who grow up in Korogocho face tough conditions. Aggrey Otieno hopes to be able to transform their lives through his NGO, Pambazuko Mashinani. Korogocho slum, Nairobi, Kenya, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Tomas Bertelsen.

Receipt of Rolex funds has permitted Aggrey Otieno to make huge progress with his plans to construct a telemedicine centre in Korogocho. He has finalized designs for the building and expects the centre to be opened on 2 March 2013. He has also bought five computers for five health centres surrounding Korogocho. “These computers will enhance connectivity between the hospitals, the telemedicine centre and our pool of volunteers,” Otieno says.

His only sister, who inspired Otieno to launch his project, has become its first beneficiary. “She became pregnant again. I had, together with my Mum and brothers, travelled to our rural village, and my sister remained in Nairobi with her husband. She started experiencing excruciating labour pains, and the community health workers were able to trigger response mechanisms after receiving a text message from her that she needed urgent health care. I was about 600 km away from Korogocho, and I was able to advise that she be taken to Kenyatta National Hospital where she gave birth to a bouncing baby boy whom she has named after me.”

In another development of which he is particularly proud, Otieno has strengthened security at Korogocho by persuading young men convicted of various crimes to join a soccer team. “The team now plays in Division 3 of the Kenyan league,” he says. “They are top of their league this year, and will be promoted to Division 2 next year. As a result, their energy is now focused on playing soccer, and by the time they are done with their matches or daily exercises, they are usually too tired to steal from anyone. Most of them have committed themselves to giving security to pregnant women in Korogocho.

“The Rolex Award has, furthermore, entirely changed how my peers look at me. I have had more media attention, people also appreciate the work I am doing in Korogocho… Many slum-dwellers have also sent delegations urging me to consider joining politics. However, I believe that I can still create a lot of impact and give leadership to my people even if I am not a politician,” Otieno says.

Earlier this year Rolex announced the five winners of the 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, who are being honored in New Delhi, India,  on November 27. This profile looks at the work of 2012 Laureate Erika Cuéllar, a conservationist who is training local people in three countries to protect South America’s Gran Chaco. ”Cuéllar has already proved herself as an inspirational and innovative negotiator who has gained the respect of indigenous people and political leaders alike. Her Rolex Award for Enterprise recognizes these attributes and will support this extension of Cuéllar’s participatory approach to preserving one of South America’s last truly wild places,” Rolex says.

“The largest of Bolivia’s national parks, the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco, boasts the unlikely combination of South America’s hottest, driest weather and 70 species of large mammals, including jaguars, pumas and giant armadillos, living in the largest protected tropical dry forest in the world,” says Rolex in press materials for this week’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise ceremony. “This harsh and inhospitable environment has been the workplace of scientist Erika Cuéllar for more than a decade.”

Cuéllar has spearheaded participatory conservation with the indigenous Guaraní people who live on the boundaries of the park. She has worked towards improving grassland management and local capacity building by training local people to take ownership of the conservation of their habitat, Rolex adds.

To protect the Gran Chaco, the Kaa-Iya National Park was created in Bolivia’s far south-east in 1997. Erika Cuéllar joins Jorge Secundo "Tatu", a parabiologist, in front of a painting of Guaraní leaders. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Thierry Grobet.

“Encouraged by her successes in the national park, Cuéllar’s sights are now set on the wider Gran Chaco region, which spans parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The Gran Chaco counts a variety of indigenous tribes, nomadic hunters, gatherers, fishing communities, farmers and cattle ranchers as its human inhabitants. The forests and scrublands are also home to 3,400 plant species, 500 bird and 150 mammal species, many of which are unique to the region,” Rolex says in a news statement.

“But for more than a century, the Gran Chaco’s natural wealth has been systematically eroded. Species’ habitats have been disrupted by a military zone resulting from a longstanding boundary dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. Construction of a gas pipeline from Bolivia to Brazil, extensive cattle ranching and agricultural encroachment, as well as exploitation of groundwater for irrigation have also taken a toll on the Gran Chaco’s rich wildlife.

“A notable casualty of these man-made factors has been the guanaco, the wild ancestor of domesticated llamas, which Charles Darwin described as “an elegant animal with a long slender neck and fine legs”. An estimated 500,000 of these cinnamon-coloured animals roam the vast plains of the Patagonian steppe but only a fraction of these persist in the Gran Chaco, represented by three isolated and remnant populations in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, each numbering less than 200 individuals.”

For the last decade, Erika Cuéllar has been studying the only confirmed population of guanacos in Bolivia. She hopes to stop the decline of this camelid and other species in the Gran Chaco by training local parabiologists in research and conservation. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2009. Photo: Courtesy of Erika Cuéllar.

“In 2007, to help protect this species and its habitat, Cuéllar devised a course to train members of three ethnic groups native to the Gran Chaco (Guaraní, Ayoreode and Chiquitano) as parabiologists. In conservation, parabiology is accepted as a powerful and sustainable approach, since local people learn scientific methods and ultimately gain the skills required to lead and maintain environmental protection,” according to the Rolex statement.

“As native inhabitants, parabiologists are also an influential means of conveying the value of conservation to indigenous communities, and the scheme has received national and international attention.

“Cuéllar now wants to extend her approach in Argentina and Paraguay and formalize the model to make conservation a viable long-term local employment option. She also aims to include the parabiologists in policy-making, by involving them in a tri-national Gran Chaco conservation strategy. The guanaco will serve as the flagship species but ultimately the parabiologists will take responsibility for the wider conservation of their local areas.”

Parabiologists are trained in the best methods to monitor the diversity of plant and animal life in the Gran Chaco. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Thierry Grobet.

“Cuéllar has already proved herself as an inspirational and innovative negotiator who has gained the respect of indigenous people and political leaders alike. Her Rolex Award for Enterprise recognizes these attributes and will support this extension of Cuéllar’s participatory approach to preserving one of South America’s last truly wild places,” Rolex says.

In recent months, Erika Cuéllar’s Gran Chaco project has advanced significantly, Rolex says. “As the wider Gran Chaco region spans parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, she needs to be in contact with government agencies across a wide region to ensure the implementation of her vision.”

Erika Cuéllar (pictured) believes that it is impossible to conserve the Gran Chaco without involving local communities. Gran Chaco, near the town of San Jose. San Jose, Bolivia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Thierry Grobet.

“I’ve been able to formalize the initial contact with governmental biodiversity authorities and counterpart organizations in both Paraguay and Argentina,” says Cuéllar. “The support from the Rolex Award has transformed the initial idea of an international conservation effort into reality. Having the possibility to travel and meet governmental authorities has made a big difference in terms of reaching agreements and obtaining real support.”

In her native Bolivia, she has held a series of meetings with community and local government authorities. “The Award has helped me build upon previous positive experience working alongside parabiologists in various research and conservation projects in the Bolivian Chaco,” says Cuéllar. “I was able to meet local representatives in order to reinforce the previous initiative with local authorities – mainly the municipality of Charagua – and also the Kaa-Iya National park administration.”

The involvement of local people in conservation projects generally does not go beyond short-term, one-off employment as field guides and general assistants. “The Rolex Award allowed me to hire three parabiologists as part of the research team that will develop this international conservation project,” she says.

“The Rolex Award itself is a tremendous source of support for my profile in the conservation area,” she adds. “Recently I was awarded the Marie Curie Annual Award for Scientific Bolivian women by the National Academy of Science of Bolivia.”

Earlier this year Rolex announced the five winners of the 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, who are being honored in New Delhi, India,  on November 27. This profile looks at the work of Marine Biologist Barbara Block, who has developed innovative electronic tagging techniques that enable following fish beneath the sea. Block’s aim is to build the technology that will enable monitoring of ocean hotspots where nutrient-rich waters form attractive hunting grounds for predators, and to engage the public on the plight of marine predators that roam along the west coast of North America.

“Large marine predators such as sharks and tunas are essential to maintaining the delicate balance of our ocean ecosystems, but overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution have caused reductions of populations worldwide,” Rolex says in materials about the work of Barbara Block..

“Measures advocated by scientists to reverse this decline include the creation of large marine protected areas in the open ocean that preserve feeding and breeding grounds. A major challenge has been to identify the best locations for these sanctuaries, since these species are highly migratory and difficult to follow.

“Barbara Block, a professor of marine biology, has developed innovative electronic tagging techniques that enable following fish beneath the sea. In the late 1990s, she helped develop the first pop-up satellite archival tag, a device that detaches itself from the fish on a pre-programmed date and floats to the surface of the sea where it transmits archived data via satellite.”

Barbara Block, pictured here tagging tunas in North Carolina, has pioneered several advances in electronic tagging to track the migration of ocean fish. North Carolina, United States, 2007. Photo: Courtesy of TAG A Giant.

“From 2000 to 2010, Block was co-chief scientist for the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) programme, part of the Census of Marine Life, an 80-nation endeavor to assess the diversity and abundance of life in the oceans,” Rolex said in its news materials..

“Through deployment of more than 4,000 electronic tags, 23 species of large predators from six groups (tunas, sharks, turtles, whales, seals and seabirds) were studied in the waters of the North Pacific. The TOPP scientists identified three marine “hotspots” where nutrient-rich waters form attractive hunting grounds for predators, which feast on abundant krill, sardines, anchovies, salmon and squid. The supply of natural prey in these hotspots ensures that populations of white sharks, salmon sharks, shortfin mako sharks and some tunas remain for a significant portion of time each year and return after each migration.

“Block’s aim is to build the technology that will enable monitoring of these ocean hotspots and to engage the public on the plight of marine predators that roam along the west coast of North America – a crucial prelude to their conservation. Her team conducts “conservation oceanography” incorporating the latest advances in sensor technology, ocean observing systems and computational methods to provide resource managers and policy-makers with data on the sustainability of both exploited and protected marine predators.”

White shark off the California coast with an acoustic and satellite tag. California. Photo: Courtesy of Tagging of Pacific Predators.

Blue Serengeti

“Block considers public outreach a fundamental part of her work, and is committed to providing science-based advocacy for sustainable fisheries at national and international policy levels and in the media,” according to Rolex. “Block led the Tag A Giant Campaign, an effort to place more than 1,000 electronic tags in giant Atlantic bluefin tuna so that new knowledge would be acquired to improve management; her team’s work helped recognize the plight of this highly exploited fish. Block’s ultimate goal in the Pacific is the creation of a large, marine UNESCO World Heritage site off the Californian shore to protect the open ocean wilderness the TOPP team discovered. Her team’s research provides an eye-opening picture of neighbourhoods, migratory highways, hotspots and homecoming gatherings just off the populous western coastline of North America – a “Blue Serengeti”.

“With the receipt of a Rolex Award, Block will make progress towards protecting this area through the creation of a network of marine “predator cafés”, or biological ocean observatories, which will be distributed along the Californian coastline to monitor the animals and transmit data on their movements to a satellite or cell network for relay to the lab.

“Block’s team will tag sharks and tunas with relatively inexpensive, long-lasting acoustic tags that communicate to mobile and fixed listening stations. Establishing the capacity to listen at ocean hotspots will allow Block to conduct an ongoing census of the sharks and tunas as they come and go on their annual migratory cycles, providing the ability to monitor these populations from year to year. A website and mobile application will allow the general public to engage with these important species via the “predator cafés”.

“Most conservation efforts and advocacy to date have been devoted to land-based ecosystems. Block’s passion for combining science research with modern technology will allow everyone to engage with and help preserve the lives of the predators of the open sea.”

Barbara Block’s ultimate aim is the creation of a large, marine UNESCO World Heritage site off the Californian shore of the United States. Big Sur coastline, Monterey, United States, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Bart Michiels.

One of the world’s leading marine scientists, Barbara Block demonstrates creativity, determination and inventiveness, pushing forward technology, as well as collaborating with other disciplines to transform ocean research, Rolex says. “Her commitment goes beyond the science, however, since she has applied her expertise to critical worldwide conservation issues such as the sustainable management of commercial tuna fisheries. Her work stems from a strong desire to preserve the oceans and foster their care, encouraging the public to change consumption behaviour and influence policies. Block’s commitment to public engagement was evident when she helped her colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium bring a school of yellowfin and bluefin tunas behind glass so that2 million people a year could see the beauty of their form, colour and locomotion.”

Advancing rapidly since her Rolex Award was announced in June 2012, Barbara Block has implemented two key innovations on her project, Rolex adds.

“The first is a two-metre robotic surfboard, built by California-based company Liquid Robotics, which uses wave power for motion and solar power for its monitoring equipment. The Wave Glider, which has been named Carey, is travelling the waters off North American’s Pacific Coast and is fitted with receivers that pick up signals from acoustic tags attached to fish and other marine animals. The Glider can pick up signals from up to 300 metres and will form part of a network of receivers, including static buoys, providing unprecedented insights into marine animal movements. Initially the Glider is gathering information about sharks, but this will be extended to other predators.

“The second innovation reflects Block’s focus on education of the public. Shark Net, an iOS app for iPhones and iPads, which was part-funded by her Rolex Award, transmits data from the Wave Glider and other receivers to anyone anywhere in the world with an iOS device, enabling users to follow individual sharks and learn about their lives. “Our goal is to use revolutionary technology that increases our capacity to observe our oceans and census populations, improve fisheries management models, and monitor animal responses to climate change,” Block says. “My mission is to protect ocean biodiversity and the open sea.”

Earlier this year Rolex announced the five winners of the 2012 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, who are being honored in New Delhi, India,  on November 27. This profile looks at the work of 2012 Laureate Sergei Bereznuk, director of the Phoenix Fund, a small environmental NGO in Russia. Bereznuk and his team of six people are carrying out an impressive range of activities to preserve the endangered Siberian tiger over a territory of 64,000 square miles (166,000 square kilometers).

“The Russian Far East is home to 95 per cent of the remaining population of the Amur, the biggest of the world’s tigers (also known as the Siberian tiger), which weighs on average 200 kg [440 pounds], Rolex says in document prepared for the award ceremony. “Today, an estimated 350 to 500 of this subspecies (Panthera tigris altaica) roam the frontier region bordering China and the Sea of Japan. Although sustained conservation efforts over recent years have moved the Amur tigers from Critically Endangered to Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, they still remain at risk – mainly due to poaching.

Wild tigers worldwide now number an estimated 4,000 adult individuals in the wild,  down from 100,000 in 1900.

Rolex states:

“For the past 17 years, Sergei Bereznuk, a staunch Russian conservationist and ecologist, has been working valiantly to save the Amur tiger. Based on his experience since 1995 with a tiger anti-poaching brigade in the Primorsky Krai, the Russian Far East province commonly known as Primorye, Bereznuk is convinced that saving the Amur tiger depends on both the efficiency of anti-poaching measures and the education of the local people, two elements at the core of his Rolex Award-winning project. Moreover, he considers the Amur tiger as a powerful driver for the general conservation of its ecosystem, the taiga forest.

“As director of the Phoenix Fund, a small, environmental NGO that he has headed for 12 years, Bereznuk and his team of six people are carrying out an impressive range of activities to preserve the Amur tiger over a territory of 166,000 km2. These include support of anti-poaching units, awareness-raising among local people, reversing habitat reduction due to fires and logging and resolution of human-animal conflicts, along with providing compensation for damage and monitoring invasive industrial projects in the region.”

Sergei Bereznuk (center) and his rangers use special software to help track poachers. Lazovsky Nature Reserve, Primorsky krai, Russia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Marc Latzel.

“Poaching remains the principal threat to the tigers’ survival,” Rolex adds. “The animals are killed in retaliation, mainly for loss of cattle and wild prey and as hunting trophies. There is also demand for their skin, bones and body parts, used primarily in Chinese traditional medicine. Despite international laws banning the sale of tiger parts there is a lucrative market that fuels poaching. In their campaign to reduce the slaughter, Bereznuk and the Vladivostok-based Phoenix Fund provide anti-poaching teams with software – the Management Information System (MIST) – developed specifically for this purpose by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Up-to-date, relevant and timely information is an integral part of effective protected area management.

“Bereznuk provides anti-poaching units with fuel, spare parts for their patrolling vehicles, incentive payments, as well as training. With the Phoenix Fund’s support, these teams could improve their efficiency in terms of the number of arrests, prosecutions and influence on poachers.

“He is conscious, however, that these methods are not a solution in the long term and so he has developed extensive educational and outreach activities. Phoenix Fund-supported educators work with children, creating educational materials, films, competitions and eco-events, most notably the annual Tiger Day Festivals in Vladivostok and other regional centres, and generally encouraging villagers and young people to treasure the planet’s wildlife. For Bereznuk, the Tiger Day Festival is a powerful motivational tool.”

Sergei Bereznuk explains the purpose of new brochures to pupils in Natalia Drobysheva’s class of young children. Slavianka City, Primorsky krai, Russia, 2012. Photo: ©Rolex Awards/Marc Latzel.

“Bereznuk’s project is the first example of cutting-edge, anti-poaching methods and environmental awareness-raising activities in Russia’s Far East. The Phoenix Fund, while partnering with other major environmental organizations, is the only Russian organization conducting and supporting these programmes in the region. It has strong community ties, cultural sensitivity and an extended network of local field workers.

“A modest and pragmatic man who has overcome major odds in a highly challenging environment, Bereznuk has, with great tenacity, begun to change attitudes and empower a young team of collaborators to sustain the Amur tiger population.

“His Rolex Award for Enterprise will provide funding for his project in 2013 and, significantly, focus world attention on his efforts to protect this flagship species.”

Since receiving his Rolex Award in June 2012, Sergei Bereznuk has made great strides in his continued efforts to preserve the Amur tiger and its forest habitat in Russia’s Far East, according to Rolex.

“In September, Bereznuk organized a meeting of the four anti-poaching units working in the Lazovsky Nature Reserve, 300 km north of Vladivostok, where the Phoenix Fund and the Wildlife Conservation Society introduced the wildlife Management Information System (MIST) software last year. Each unit, comprising three to nine rangers equipped with GPS and patrol equipment, provided with fuel and uniforms thanks to Bereznuk’s Rolex Award, compared data on the number and routes of patrols they conducted, along with their observations on tigers and wildlife in general, the state of the forest, and the reach of poachers and loggers.

“In order to help reduce forest fires and agricultural burn-offs, which take a toll on the tiger’s habitat by turning forest into open meadows and brushwood, Bereznuk and the Phoenix Fund signed an agreement with three other local organizations, including the All Russia Volunteer Fire Organization, to create a network of volunteer, fire-fighting teams ready to be deployed in the Primorsky Krai region.

“On 30 September, Bereznuk’s Phoenix Fund, along with partner organizations, led the 13th annual Tiger Day Festival in Vladivostok. Over 4,000 costumed schoolchildren and students, decked out in various shades of orange tiger stripes, walked down the city’s main street to raise awareness of tiger and forest conservation, while 5,000 spectators looked on. Bereznuk then received an award from the city’s mayor for “his invaluable contribution to the ecological education of the local community.”