A long-term large-scale collaborative conservation initiative in Kazakhstan has today been named the winner of the ‘Protect and Restore Nature’ category of His Royal Highness Prince William’s Earthshot Prize 2024. The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative has received the prestigious prize in recognition of its vision and results to conserve and restore the steppe ecosystem in Kazakhstan.
The Earthshot Prize 2024: Major grassland restoration project in Kazakhstan celebrates win
Today, the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (Altyn Dala – meaning Golden Steppe in Kazakh) celebrates winning the prestigious Earthshot Prize 2024. By being crowned the winner of the ‘Protect and Restore Nature’ category, the initiative is being recognised for its major successes to conserve and restore the ecosystems of the ancient Kazakh steppe, wetlands, and deserts for the benefit of Saiga Antelope and other globally important wildlife.
As a long-term collaborative partnership between Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology & Natural Resources, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), Fauna & Flora, Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Altyn Dala was initially founded in 2005 to prevent the extinction of Saiga Antelope.
Announced today during Earthshot Week in Cape Town,The Earthshot Prize searches the globe for game-changing innovations that will help us repair our planet, awarding the very best five solutions a year with £1 million each to scale their work and offering expert support, partnership and coaching opportunities through The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Partners.
The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative was today awarded the prestigious global prize for its work across 75 million hectares (185 million acres) of steppe ecosystems – equivalent in size to Turkey or Texas. Through these efforts, Altyn Dala has spectacularly reversed the prospects of the unique Saiga Antelope, a keystone species across the steppe grasslands. Targeted by criminal poaching gangs for their horns, the Saiga Antelope population collapsed by 2005, reaching lows of fewer than 40,000. Sustained research, anti-poaching, anti-smuggling, protected area establishment and public education efforts have since enabled Saiga Antelope populations to recover to an unprecedented level of over 2.8 million in 2024. This represents one of the most dramatic recoveries of a mammal ever recorded.
Beyond the efforts to recover Saiga Antelope populations, Altyn Dala partners are additionally working to revive a series of other priority threatened species, including Steppe Eagles, Sociable Lapwing, Kulan (wild ass) and Przewalski’s Horse – the latter reintroduced in 2024 after a 200 year absence.
Having today won The Earthshot Prize 2024 amongst intense competition from over 2,400 other inspiring nominees, the announcement follows the global recognition of Altyn Dala by the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration as one of only 17 World Restoration Flagships in 2022. Looking ahead to the future, together with The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Partners, the initiative hopes to build upon its achievements and expand protected areas, ensure high quality management, recover more depleted species and ensure rural communities, including the next generation of conservationists, continue to benefit from nature restoration within Kazakhstan.
We are delighted to receive this recognition on the world stage for the collaborative efforts of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative. There is, however, much work to still be done to ensure the golden steppes of Kazakhstan continue to benefit people, wildlife, and climate long into the future. We’re excited to continue to work as a partnership, alongside The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Partners, to further utilise our experience and enhance the training and monitoring carried out by local conservationists across the protected areas here in Kazakhstan.
Working at an ecosystem scale, efforts to secure the long-term future of the ancient Kazakh steppe is ongoing, and the funding provided by The Earthshot Prize will further enable Altyn Dala to build the steppe’s resilience to climate change impacts, maintain anti-poaching and anti-smuggling activities, recover threatened species and connect restored landscapes that function both for wildlife and communities’ land uses.
Additionally, to strengthen national capacity for delivering conservation effectively, investment in existing professionals, the current generation of students, and school children across Kazakhstan will all be crucial to further restoring and understanding the unique habitats, flora and fauna found in Kazakhstan.
Becoming a winner of The Earthshot Prize is not only an incredible honour, but also a testament to the power of partnership in conservation. With the support of the Prize, we will scale up our initiatives and expand collaboration to attract new knowledge and additional resources.
Beyond Kazakhstan, due to the multiple problems facing temperate grasslands globally, Altyn Dala is collaborating with other major grassland initiatives in the Mongolian steppe, the American prairie, and Patagonian pampas regions. By sharing knowledge and experience with like-minded teams, Altyn Dala is contributing to global initiatives to protect and restore temperate grasslands. The recognition of the initiative as an Earthshot Prize winner will therefore ensure that the learnings and experiences of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative benefit nature restoration across the globe.
Vera Voronova, Director of ACBK
vera.voronova@acbk.kz
Steffen Zuther, FZS Project Leader Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative
steffen.zuther@fzs.org