Nepal’s Sonam Lama wins prestigious Whitley Award for his work on Red Panda Conservation

Kathmandu: Nepali conservationist, Sonam Lama, has won the Whitley Award worth £40,000 from UK conservation charity, the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). Sonam Lama from Nepal wins prestigious Whitley Award for his work on Red Panda Conservation via Red Panda Network. Lama has trained 100 citizen scientists to help restore red panda habitat and invested in red panda eco-tourism to provide income for local people.

Issuing a press statement, the organisers said that 2021 saw record numbers of illegal red panda pelts seized, with habitat for the Critically Endangered species fragmented into over 400 isolated patches. Lama, living and working in the foothills of the world’s third largest mountain, will use his Award money to turn red panda poachers into protectors and diversify sustainable income for communities, especially socially and economically at-risk women and young people.

Lama works with the Red Panda Network, an NGO dedicated to conservation of wild red pandas. They are leading the longest-running monitoring project in the world, with 10 wild red pandas successfully GPS-collared and studied. They have restored 400 hectares of habitat around Mt. Kangchenjunga, trained over 100 citizen scientists, and supported 100 school students with Red Panda Conservation Scholarships.

Scaling up this success into new areas, Lama will use also use the Whitley Award to diversify income sources for communities, particularly women and young people, through forest conservation nurseries and restoration to create a wildlife corridor that connects habitat for red pandas. He will also establish community-led anti-poaching patrols and awareness-raising campaigns. Poised to expand, Lama’s project has great potential for replication in other range countries, the statement further said in the statement.