Welcoming a New Generation of Conservation Leaders

WWF knows that strong leadership is vital to the future of conservation. Each year, WWF provides support to proven and potential conservation leaders in Africa, Asia, and Latin America so they may pursue graduate studies in WWF priority places.

This year, WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program (EFN) selected 26 outstanding individuals from around the world to receive Russell E. Train Fellowships.

Twenty of the individuals selected from Botswana, Belize, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Honduras, Laos, Myanmar, Namibia and Zambia will receive funding to pursue either a master’s degree or PhD to study conservation issues vital to their home region. They will be studying a wide variety of topics such as wildlife conservation and management, food security, the effects of climate change, forest monitoring systems, and more.

Thanks to a new initiative to support current and aspiring university faculty, six faculty fellows will be enrolled in doctoral programs. These fellows will receive up to three years of financial support for academic studies and research with the goal of returning to a university in their home country to improve conservation education for future students.

Train Fellowships are named after the late Russell E. Train, founder and chairman emeritus of WWF-US, who played a fundamental role in nearly all original action for international conservation and US environmental policy. Early on, he recognized the enormous need for conservation capacity on a global scale. He felt that without education and training, the full potential of promising leaders would never be achieved, and the Earth would suffer as a consequence.

Embracing his vision, EFN has sponsored education opportunities for more than 1,950 conservation leaders in the last 20 years so that they may steer their countries to a more sustainable future.

WWF is proud to announce its 2014 Train Fellows:

Hong Seang Aun (Cambodia) - master’s degree in biodiversity conservation, Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia

May Aung (Myanmar) - master’s degree in environmental law and policy, Vermont Law School, USA

Michel Babale (Cameroon) - PhD in forestry science, Université Laval, Canada

Pin Chanratana (Cambodia) - master’s degree in natural resources management, King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi, Thailand

Juan Carlos Carrasco (Honduras) - master’s degree in oceanography, Universidad de Cadiz, Spain

Neo Cynthia Karele (Botswana) - master’s degree in environmental conservation, University of Greenwich, UK

Virat Kootsositse (Botswana) - master’s degree in natural resource management, University of Botswana

Mekondjo Lendelvo (Namibia) - PhD in animal biology, University of Namibia

Karena Mahung (Belize) - master’s degree in environmental management, Yale University, USA

Angelina Martins (Mozambique) - PhD in environmental science, Rhodes University, South Africa

Jean-Fiston Mikwa (DRC) - PhD in geography, Université de Kisangani, DRC

Thandiwe Mweetwa (Zambia) - master’s degree in natural resources conservation, University of Arizona, USA

Sharon Namonje (Zambia) - master’s degree in natural resource management, Copperbelt University, Zambia

Winne Ngangu Bamu (DRC) - master’s degree in environmental management, Université de Liège, Belgium

Gisele Ngilambi (DRC) - master’s degree in geographic information systems, University of Maryland, USA

Carla Ngoyi Kalangula (DRC) - master’s degree in bioengineering, Catholic University of Lovain, Belgium

Caroline Ng’weno (Kenya) - PhD in zoology, University of Wyoming, USA

Aung Tun Oo (Myanmar) - PhD in rural development, Ghent University, Belgium

Wilmer Reyes (Honduras) - PhD in forestry and environmental resources, North Carolina State University, USA

Anand Roopsind (Guyana) - PhD in botany, University of Florida, USA

Juan Carlos Rosito (Guatemala) - PhD in ecology, Universidad de Alicante, Spain

Mom Sary (Cambodia) - master’s degree in protected area management, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Tshering Tempa (Bhutan) - PhD in wildlife biology, University of Montana, USA

Peter Umunay (DRC) - PhD in forest ecology and management, Yale University, USA

William Versfeld (Namibia) - master’s degree in conservation genetics, Stellenbosh University in South Africa