This prestigious award is given annually for significant contributions to conservation either in conflict zones or involving personal risk; it is organised by the Marjan Centre for the Study of Conflict and the Environment, Department of War Studies, King’s College, London, and is generously support by the Marsh Christian Trust.

The 2019 award will be presented to The Caucasus Nature Fund (CNF) at a short ceremony followed by illustrated talk by Geof Giacomini, Executive Director of CNF.

 - (CNF): Located on the edge of Europe, the Caucasus has emerged as one of the most important regions for peace and security in Eurasia. The Caucasus contains a set of protracted conflicts (Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and the ongoing instability in Russia’s North Caucasus) which threaten regional stability and risk overspill beyond the region.

Within this security vacuum the Caucasus Nature Fund (CNF) began work in 2008 not only to restore the national parks of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia but to help build bridges to reduce regional tensions.                       

The biodiversity of the Caucasus is being lost at an alarming rate. The major threats to biodiversity in the eco-region are illegal logging, poaching and the illegal wildlife trade as well as over-fishing. These threats lead to habitat degradation, decline of species population and disruption of ecological processes—all contributing to the overall loss of biodiversity.                                                                                                                 There over 900 species of plants and 525 species of mammals found in the region; there is a special conservation focus on the European Bison, Goitered Gazelles, the Brown Bear, Caucasian Leopards, West/East Caucasian Tur (a special type of mountain-dwelling goat), as well as the Bezoar goat and Caucasian Red Deer. Birdlife include the Booted Eagle, Eagle Owl and Golden Oriole while a wide range of amphibians include the Caucasian Salamander, Caucasian Toad, Eurasian Marsh Frog and Caucasian Viper.                                                         

For more CNF information please see web-site: https://www.caucasus-naturefund.org/

- (MARSH CHRISTIAN TRUST): The Trust was established in 1981 and has two main areas of work; grant-making and the Marsh Awards. The Trust provides grants to registered charities working in the fields of social welfare, literature, arts and heritage, environmental and animal welfare, healthcare and medical research, education and training and a small number overseas projects. The Trust runs a portfolio of Awards with a number of internationally and nationally recognised organisations such as Barnardos, the National Trust and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). The Awards recognise ‘unsung heroes’ who all aim to improve the world we live in. Recipients of Marsh Awards range from scientists working in conservation biology and ecology, to authors and sculptors and those who work with the young, the elderly and people with mental health issues.

-   The MARJAN CENTRE: The Centre was set up in July, 2010 to study the overlap of conflict with the environment. The links between war and conflict with the environment have been under- explored compared with other branches of both conflict studies and environmentalism.

Biodiversity is key to the livelihoods of millions of people and its destruction and degradation undermines development and contributes to insecurity in the country and internationally through the threat multiplier of climate change.

Conflict in an even wider sense is also linked to the environment through clashes between local inhabitants and activists protesting against natural resource extraction and projects that has resulted in a rising number of deaths.

The Centre’s research programme is designed as a ‘hub’ whereby material is transferred horizontally as much as possible across different projects, such as environmental post- conflict stabilisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, insecurity in South Africa connected to rhino poaching as well as forecasting armed forces readiness for climate change.