Leading with Vision: Vera Voronova Honoured with MIDORI Prize

The Midori Prize for Biodiversity is a prestigious international award that celebrates remarkable achievements in biodiversity conservation, recognising individuals and organisations making a significant impact on the planet’s ecosystems and promoting sustainable ways of coexisting with nature. 

Founded in 2010 by Japan’s AEON Environmental Foundation, the prize takes its name from the Japanese word “Midori,” meaning “green.” It envisions a world where biodiversity flourishes alongside human life. Every two years, three laureates are selected for their influential conservation work, with the 2024 edition specifically honouring contributions to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This framework includes four major goals: protecting and restoring nature, thriving alongside it, sharing benefits equitably, and investing in collaborative efforts for nature’s future. 

Winners receive funding to further their work and are invited to share their insights at major biodiversity events, like those organised by the United Nations. As such, the Midori Prize is more than an award—it’s a driver of global dialogue and action for a greener, more biodiverse world. 

At BirdLife International, we are immensely proud to celebrate Vera Voronova, the visionary Executive Director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK)—our dedicated BirdLife Partner in Kazakhstan—as a 2024 Midori Prize laureate. Under Vera’s leadership, ACBK has become a powerhouse of conservation and restoration in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, embodying BirdLife’s mission to protect and restore ecosystems for the benefit of both wildlife and communities. 

Vera has pioneered transformative projects that address urgent conservation needs, particularly the recovery of endangered mammal populations and the preservation of vital migration corridors across the steppes. Her work in safeguarding the Central Asian Flyway, a key route for migratory birds, directly contributes to BirdLife’s global goals and represents a shared commitment to ensuring the safe passage and habitat protection of these remarkable species. Through ACBK, she collaborates closely with governments and international partners, demonstrating how strategic conservation initiatives can bring lasting improvements to rural livelihoods, inspire environmental education, and set the groundwork for sustainable futures across borders. 

Watch Martin’s full interview with Vera here: https://vimeo.com/1026838511

In recognition of this exceptional achievement, Her Imperial Highness, Princess Takamado, Honorary President of BirdLife International, extends her warm congratulations. Reflecting on Vera’s accomplishments and their global significance, she shares: 

”Ms. Vera Voronova, Executive Director of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), the BirdLife Partner in the country, has won the Midori Prize for Biodiversity 2024. This is a highly prestigious award that celebrates great achievements in conservation, and I am thoroughly delighted for her, Kazakhstan and the global BirdLife community. 

It is a measure of Vera’s drive and capabilities that, only six years after she was voted onto the board of ACBK as a student member, she became its Executive Director. She cares for nature with such deep feelings that she carries everyone with her. But these feelings do not cloud her professional judgement—rather, they reinforce it, and give it sparkling clarity. This is because she is also a hard-headed evidence-driven scientist, marrying facts and feelings with unswerving authority. 

Moreover, for the past six years she has committed her time to developing BirdLife’s wider impact through her service on the Global Council and Europe and Central Asia Committee, helping to support our ambitions to protect the four great flyways of the world for migratory birds – especially the Central Asian Flyway, which has Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country on earth, at its heart. 

As Executive Director of ACBK she quickly learnt the practicalities of designing and delivering major conservation projects such as the brilliant Altyn Dala initiative, which focuses on the conservation of Kazakhstan’s steppe ecosystems and their flagship species. She also rapidly developed her managerial skills, making ACBK the most respected conservation NGO in Kazakhstan and helping her government develop a national biodiversity strategy to meet its global environmental obligations.   

For Vera to have been recognised by this award is simply wonderful and absolutely right. I offer her my heartfelt congratulations and my ardent thanks!”