Compassionate Conservation

Coming soon

  • Details of Compassionate Conservation event for 2011

 

The Born Free Foundation, on behalf of the Compassionate Conservation Network, is delighted to announce the launch of:

The Virginia McKenna Award for Compassionate Conservation

The Born Free Foundation has, at its heart, the interface between animal welfare and conservation, and is keen to promote its agenda of Compassionate Conservation, where the welfare of individual animals is a central consideration in conservation actions.

The Award of US$1000 will be made annually by the Born Free Foundation, in consultation with the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the Compassionate Conservation Network, on the basis of applications submitted for review.

This Award is intended to provide support and recognition for researchers, practitioners, organisations and projects that promote and develop the consideration of animal welfare in conservation practice.

Interested parties should submit a 1000 word overview of the project, detailing in particular the relevance to animal welfare and conservation, by 1st Sept 2011.

The project overview should include all of the following:

  • Expected outcome – aims/objectives and how your project will benefit animal welfare and conservation.
  • Detailed methods, including and plans for evaluating the effectiveness of the project.
  • A schedule of project activities. - Names, nationalities and affiliations of individuals directly involved in the proposed project.
  • A budget breakdown, with costs itemised in pounds sterling (£) or US dollars ($).
  • Support from other sources (please specify the amount and whether received or whether applications are pending).

Shortlisted applicants will then be asked to complete a more detailed application, for submission by 1st Dec 2011.

Applications should be submitted in MS Word or equivalent to info@compassionateconservation.org.

Submission is completed on receipt of an written acknowledgement from Compassionate Conservation. The reviewers reserve the right to reject any or all applications, and all decisions on shortlisting and allocation of the award are final.

 

Compassionate Conservation Guiding Principles

Since the groundbreaking Compassionate Conservation Symposium in Oxford in 2010, we have been working with a group of key individuals to develop the following Guiding Principles for Compassionate Conservation. We hope that you will join us in signifying your support:

RECOGNISING that wild animals, whether free-ranging or in captivity, may be affected by the intentional or unintentional actions of humans as well as the natural processes within ecosystems and the wider environment;

CONCERNED that many human activities, including those undertaken for a conservation purpose, may directly or indirectly cause harm to individual wild animals, populations, species, or ecosystems;

RECOGNISING that both conservation and wild animal welfare should implicitly respect the inherent value of wild animals and the natural world, and that both disciplines should try to mitigate harms caused by humans to other species;

BELIEVING that all harms to wild animals should be minimised wherever and to the extent possible, regardless of the human intention and purpose behind them;

PROPOSING that the principles and actions that underpin Compassionate Conservation, by combining consideration of animal welfare and conservation, will lead to a reduction in harm and in the suffering of individual wild animals, and will improve conservation outcomes;

THE UNDERSIGNED:

BELIEVE that we can accomplish more than could be achieved by applying either animal welfare or conservation practices without consideration of and, where appropriate, application of the other;

AND AGREE THAT we shall, in our professional lives, seek to: identify, enhance and promote the commonalities between animal welfare and conservation; pursue, to the extent possible, best practice in these disciplines; and thereby work to achieve shared principles and undertake practical Compassionate Conservation actions.

If you would add your name as a signatory, please send an email with your full title, name and affiliation, and whether you are willing for your name to appear on this website, to info@compassionateconservation.org



The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity working throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and protect threatened species in the wild. www.bornfree.org.uk



Founded in 1986, WildCRU was the first university-based conservation research unit in Europe.  WildCru's mission is to achieve practical solutions to conservation problems through original scientific research. www.wildcru.org