Indonesian conservationist receives Whitley Award

Antara ,  London   |  Sun, 05/25/2008 12:45 PM  |  National

Denny Kurniawan (28) of the Borneo Conservation Community, Indonesia, has won the prestigious Whitley Awards along with 10 other winners from the Whitley Fund for Nature(WFN), a British charity organization.

According to the WFN, Denny won the award for his outstanding contribution in establishing a network between the local national park and the public.

Denny had worked in the Katingan region of Kalimantan, where the creation of the Sebangau National Park; the world's largest orang utans conservation park set up in 2004, had caused rifts among the locals.

The Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs Counselor at the Indonesian Embassy in London, Herry Sudradjat, said Saturday that the award ceremony was held in conjunction with the 15th anniversary of WFN.

Denny received a cash prize worth 30,000 pound sterling donated by musician Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, plus a long-term support and the opportunity to apply for further funding, currently worth more than 0.4 million pound sterling a year (US$0.8 million).

The Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) is a UK registered charity offering a range of Awards and grants to outstanding nature conservationists around the world.

Other Whitley Award and Associate Award recipients this year hailed from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Peru and Turkey.

Apart from Denny, two other Indonesians have won the awards so far, namely Dr. Rignolda Djamaluddin in 2006 and Mirza Kusrini in 2007. (*)

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