Jon Paul Rodríguez is the current Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC). When the former Chair of the Commission, Simon Stuart, left the post in 2016 after 8 years, he joined Synchronicity Earth as Director of Strategic Conservation. The two men go back a long way, so with Jon Paul in London to collect a Whitley Gold Award, we sat them down to get their views on some of the current challenges facing the conservation sector.
An outstanding contribution to conservation
Jon Paul won the Whitley Gold Award (2019) for his outstanding contribution to conservation. His organisation, Provita, works to conserve the Yellow-shouldered parrot (Amazona barbadensis) on Margarita Island, Venezuela.
Simon: First of all, huge congratulations on your Whitley Gold Award this year. Your first award was in 2003, and this is the fifth time that Provita has received support from the Whitley Fund for Nature! Tell us what that really means for Provita and all those working on the project.
Jon Paul Rodríguez. Photo © Sean Southey
Jon Paul: Well, the project actually started in the early 1990s, but the first Whitley award came in 2003. Whitley often talk about the increased visibility that their award gives to organisations and I think they’re right. They are very good at showcasing their winners and the work they do and, of course, having Sir David Attenborough as a Trustee and Princess Anne present the award gives it a greater level of international recognition.
Our first award came at just the right moment because it coincided with a very difficult period for the project: we’d just had some poachers break into our captive-breeding facility and steal some of the parrots, and we were facing a number of other challenges in our work. Winning the Whitley award helped us gain visibility and the funding they provided really re-activated the project when it was at a very low point.
And it’s not just financial support. They are constantly putting us in touch with other people, asking us how things are going and spreading the word about what we do. At international conferences, they organise side events for the Whitley winners. It’s a really nurturing network, and many of us – the winners – have met through the Whitley award and continue to work together.