Mwezi Badru Mugerwa, winner of the 2025 Emerging Conservationist Award, at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. © Mwezi Badru Mugerwa.
Ten previous Rufford Small Grant recipients have received 2025 nominations for highly coveted conservation awards, with seven of them winning a Whitley Award, Future for Nature Award or Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award.
The group, which includes conservationists working across Africa, Asia and South America, were recognised for their outstanding efforts to conserve a variety of species such as plants and trees (Reshu Bashyal), the African golden cat (Mwezi Badru Mugerwa) and the brown spider monkey (Andrés Link).
While their projects aim to protect species and maintain regional biodiversity, these conservation leaders also collaborate closely with local communities, recognising the importance of human-wildlife coexistence via community-based approaches.
Their work, which extends far beyond biological sciences, also necessitates addressing conservation challenges alongside stakeholders such as governments and civil society. This is just one example of the collective effort needed to make strides in conservation, and the researchers’ dedication to nature and wildlife preservation.
Awards
The conservation awards are highly sought-after, not only for their funding amounts but reputation and other benefits. These include a profile boost through national and international media exposure, networking and training opportunities.
Whitley Awards, the flagship prizes of The Whitley Fund for Nature, present six winners with £50,000 in project funding.
Future for Nature Awards offer €50,000 to three young conservationists between the ages of 18 and 35.
The Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist Award grants $50,000 to one conservationist under 40 to further their work.
Whitley Award winner Rahayu Oktaviani. © Whitley Awards.
2025 Winners and Nominees
The Rufford Foundation would like to congratulate all winners and nominees on their achievements. We are delighted to give special mention to those who we have funded:
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Andrés Link (Colombia) – winner, Whitley Award 2025. Andrés’ Whitley Award supports the project: ‘Canopy corridors: Reconnecting brown spider monkeys in Colombia’. He received two Rufford Small Grants (2012, 2007) that successfully funded the continuation of brown spider monkey data collection for long-term projects and training for several students in Colombia.
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Federico Kacoliris (Argentina) – winner, Whitley Award 2025. Federico’s Whitley Award will fund: ‘The Guardians of Somuncurá Plateau’s Biodiversity’, a project that aims to protect the Critically Endangered El Rincon stream frog, the naked characin fish, and the biodiversity of the entire Somuncura Plateau. He received two Rufford Small Grants (2008, 2007) to protect the sand dune lizard in coastal Argentinian habitats.
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Rahayu Oktaviani (Indonesia) – winner, Whitley Award 2025. Rahayu’s Whitley Award backs the project: ‘Calling for community: Saving the song of the Javan gibbon’. Her Rufford Small Grant (2015) was used to identify the habitat preference of Javan gibbons, establish a map of their special distribution and assemble an overview of the threats they face.
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Reshu Bashyal (Nepal) – winner, Whitley Award 2025. Reshu’s Whitley Award will support: ‘Healing Forests: Safeguarding medicinal plants in Nepal’. Her Rufford Small Grant (2023) helped unveil the extent of plant species misidentification in Nepal, identifying areas that need intervention and species that need the most focus. Reshu also organised The Rufford Foundation 2024 Learning Event together with Greenhood Nepal.
Reshu Bashyal accepting her Whitley Award from Princess Anne. © Christian Tuckwell-Smith.
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Kumar Paudel (Nepal) – winner, Future for Nature Award 2025 and nominee, Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award. Kumar achieved a double acknowledgement. His Future for Nature Award will aid with the expansion of pangolin monitoring, and train and mobilise community-based anti-poaching units. Meanwhile, his Emerging Conservationist nomination recognised his formation of the Nepal Pangolin Roundtable, which resulted in policy frameworks aimed at saving pangolins. Kumar received a Rufford Small Grant (2016) for his research on illegal wildlife trade.
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Ruthmery Pillco (Peru) – winner, Future for Nature Award 2025. Ruthmery’s Future for Nature Award will support the tracking of dwarf deer movements, training of local field researchers and Indigenous rangers, and behavioural change campaigns to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. Her Rufford Small Grant (2013) was used to generate information on the feeding ecology of woolly monkeys to inform their conservation.
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Mwezi Badru Mugerwa (Uganda) – winner, Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award 2025. Badru was the sole winner of the Emerging Conservationist Award. For over 15 years, he has worked with local communities to protect the African golden cat, and he established the first community-based anti-poaching project (Embaka) at Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park (BIFNP) in Uganda. He received two Rufford Small Grants (2023, 2020) which were used to grow anti-poaching community capacity in BIFNP.
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Arely Ramírez-García (Mexico) – nominee, Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award 2025. Arely’s Emerging Conservationist nomination recognised her role in reintroducing two ‘extinct in the wild’ fish species to the Teuchitlán River, Mexico. She received two Rufford Small Grants (2024, 2019) to increase knowledge of fish community structure, control non-native species, and repopulate native species across Lake Zacapu and La Zarcita.
Emerging Conservationist Award nominee Arely Ramírez-Garcí. © Jonatan Torres Pérez-Coeto.
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Aristide Takoukam Kamla (Cameroon) – nominee, Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award 2025. Artistide’s Emerging Conservationist nomination acknowledged his dedication to African manatee conservation, including his formation of the African Marine Manatee Conservation Organization in 2024. He received three Rufford Small Grants (2023, 2020, 2016) to support sea turtle monitoring and conservation projects across North Cameroon.
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Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria) – nominee, Indianapolis Prize: Emerging Conservationist Award 2025. Iroro’s Emerging Conservationist nomination highlighted her work to conserve bat species across Africa, and her establishment of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization (SMACON). She received two Rufford Small Grants (2017, 2014), one of which resulted in the discovery of a new country record, species list, and first protected area for Hipposideros curtus. SMACON was recently awarded a Rufford Organisational Grant.
Getting into Conservation
For many of the winners and nominees, a Rufford Small Grant was one of their first opportunities to fund visions that protect nature. Their accomplishments up to and including this year are a reminder that the possibilities are endless when promising conservationists are given the chance to lead.
Are you considering starting or accelerating your own conservation journey? Apply for a Rufford Small Grant today.