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Getty Prize For Conservation Awarded To Community Leader From Madagascar

Roger Samba has been award the 2008 Getty Prize to recognize his community leadership
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Established in 2006, the Getty Award is given out each year to honors one of the world’s top conservationists. The award recognizes contributions to conservation through personal leadership in one of three annually rotating areas: political leadership, scientific leadership and community leadership. It is for his community leadership that Roger Samba has been named the winner of the 2008 J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership.

As the president of the remote village of Andavadoaka in southwestern Madagascar, and with no conservation background, Samba organized the world’s first community run no-take zone for octopus, a local species of critical economic importance to the community, driving legislation on this and other laws to benefit the environment. This work became a model for seasonal closures and was behind the village being awarded the 2007 UN Equator Prize.

For generations, the indigenous semi-nomadic Vezo people of Andavadoaka, Madagascar - Samba’s hometown - have depended on artisanal fishing activities for their livelihoods, culture and tradition. But in recent years, the region’s marine resources faced growing threats from expanding coastal populations, unsustainable tourism and an increase in international fishing fleets.

Samba spent much of the last five years working to protect the region’s fragile marine biodiversity and habitats. He created a blueprint for empowering local communities to take on management of coral reefs and related habitats. Since 2003, plans for creation of community-managed marine protected areas have spread from one village to more than 30 in the region. This work has inspired the development of ambitious alternative livelihood and environmental education initiatives, influenced national fisheries legislation, and brought unprecedented attention to marine and coastal conservation issues. Fishermen and women have traveled from across Madagascar and beyond to learn from the Andavadoaka model.

Administered by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership is one of the world’s most prestigious awards devoted to conservation. The award, currently sponsored by J. Paul Getty’s son Gordon and his family, is intended to encourage conservation innovation and heighten public awareness of the need for conservation. Nominees for the Getty Award are submitted to WWF by conservation organizations around the world and the winner is chosen by an independent jury of individuals from a wide and distinguished array of expertise.

The $200,000 annual award is unique in that it not only recognizes today’s leaders in conservation but also helps develop conservation leadership for tomorrow by establishing graduate fellowships in the name of the winner and J. Paul Getty. Samba will use his award to establish fellowships for students pursuing masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral degrees in conservation-related fields at a university of his choice in Madagascar.

Read about 2007 Getty Award winner Dr. K. Ullas Karanth