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From the bottom of the


world to the top of the heap. UF/IFAS graduate wins conservation award Only 8 years after earning his
 Ph.D. from UF/IFAS' Wildlife
Conservation and Ecology department, Argentinean wildlife conservationist Andres Novaro has won the Whitley Award, Britain's highest conservation award and one of the most respected environmental conservation awards in the world.
 Novaro, one of eight Whitley Award recipients chosen worldwide this year, was honored for his conservation program, which is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Patagonian and Southern Andean Steppe Program. The award includes a cash prize of 30,000 to support Novaro's program. Novaro's work is critical in Northwestern Patagonia, home to several extremely rare wildlife species, such as guanacos, a relative of the camel, and


'S


 Argentina's
 Patagonia
 Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal, made the presentation to Novaro.
choiques (rheas), flightless birds found only in South America. Habitat deterioration and poaching have reduced guanaco and rhea populations, which are fragmented and low density. The vast majority of arid Patagonia is in private hands, leaving less than 1% effectively protected. Home to Argentina's largest oil field, the region has extensive, abandoned oil exploration roads, which poachers now use. Navaro's successful dialogues with oil companies have closed many such trails. He is negotiating wildlife corridors linking isolated, protected populations that will create a 20,000 square kilometer "mega-landscape" to preserve Patagonia's rare species.


hoiqun Is found only in tills Andres Novaro with a part of ile wortd patagonian fox
 Using this project as a model, Novaro hopes to expand this concept throughout Patagonia. To support that effort, he will be eligible for matching funds next year. + CONTACT: Sarah Miller, swmi@wec.ufl.edu

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