$600,000 has been awarded to 29 teams of young conservationists as part of the BP Conservation Programme, a unique collaboration between BirdLife International and three other leading environmental organisations.

The record prize fund was awarded at an awards ceremony held last night in London. The 29 teams came from 23 countries around the globe, with their projects focusing on a wide variety on issues ranging from protecting bats in Madagascar to coral conservation in the Marshall Islands.

One of the winners of the three main $75,000 Consolidation Awards (awarded to continue the work of previous BP Award winners), is the Threatened Birds of Bolivia Project, which aims to improve the situation for all 29 of Bolivia's globally threatened bird species and the habitats they live in, including the critically endangered Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis.

"The training and long-term support provided by this Programme increases the immediate capabilities of projects, but perhaps more significantly, builds the skills, enthusiasm and potential of individual team members." —Marianne Dunn, Programme Manager, BP Conservation Programme

Other bird projects to benefit include: a $30,000 Follow-up Award to a team led by Nature Uganda (BirdLife in Uganda) to monitor the status of the globally threatened Blue Swallow Hirundo atrocaerulea in Uganda; a project to survey for Orange-necked Partridges in Vietnam; conservation of the recently-discovered Araripe Manakin Antilophia bokermanni in Brazil; and a project to conserve endangered grassland birds in Uruguay.

Please see the BP Conservation web site for further details of all the winners.

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