The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative won the Earthshot 2024 Prize last November, notably for restoring a stable population of Saiga, a rare species of antelope.
Conservation of rare antelope species wins Earthshot Prize
The Earthshot Prize, an initiative created in 2020 by Prince Harry, rewards innovations and solutions that respond to environmental challenges such as preserving biodiversity or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This year, the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative won the award last November.
This project is a partnership between the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), the Government of Kazakhstan and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). The goal is to restore 75 million hectares of grasslands, wetlands and deserts in Kazakhstan, according to IFLScience. By making all these efforts, they managed to reduce the population of Saigas, a rare and once critically endangered species of antelope that lives in these grasslands, from 40,000 to 2.8 million over the last 20 years. recent years, again according to the media.
The Saigas, a species as rare as it is surprising
As mentioned above, the Saiga is a rare species of Eurasian antelope, which lives mainly in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, in dry steppes and semi-arid deserts. It is easily recognizable by its long nostrils, resembling a trunk. Growing up to 170 cm, this mammal has very good eyesight and smell, which allows it to be safe from predators.
This species experienced a sharp decline in its population, initially in the early 2000s due to poaching, then in 2015 when in a few days, between 150,000 and 200,000 saigas lost their lives, which represented more than third of this species of antelope in the world at that time.
More examples of the RSPB's vital work
Other initiatives by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have borne fruit. Indeed, there is for example the case of Dolomedes plantarius, England's largest spider, introduced by the organization to new sites to restore the population of this rare species.
There is also the example of white spoonbills, a species of birds that once disappeared due to the degradation of their habitat or hunting. Today there are 17 pairs of spoonbills recorded.
Source: IFLScience
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