| March 9, 2010 |  |
UCS Board Member Stuart Pimm Wins Tyler Environmental Prize
Shares Prize With Cheetah Conservation Fund Founder
WASHINGTON (March 9, 2010) – Conservationist Stuart Pimm, a longtime Union of Concerned Scientists board member, today was named the winner of the 2010 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Pimm, the Doris Duke professor of conservation ecology at Duke University, will share the prize with Laurie Marker, founder of the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund.
The Tyler Prize is one of the premier awards for environmental science, environmental health and energy. Since 1973, when it was established by John and Alice Tyler, it has been awarded annually to 61 individuals and four organizations.
The Tyler Prize executive committee recognized Pimm and Marker this year for their "scientific and management contributions to the understanding and restoration of ecosystems." Each will receive a $200,000 cash prize and gold medal.
Pimm has long been involved in conservation research, teaching and public policy. He has contributed to more than 200 journal articles, many of them as the lead or sole author, has managed research projects worldwide, and has worked as a university professor for 36 years.
He was awarded the Tyler Prize in recognition of his work to define ecological food web structures, to understand the expected lifetimes of plant and animal populations, and to determine which populations are most vulnerable to the threat of extinction and which have the capacity to rapidly recover.
In his letter nominating Pimm for the Tyler Prize, Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University professor emeritus and a Tyler laureate, said Pimm's achievements "serve as an environmental conservation template."
Marker has been studying wild cheetahs for more than 30 years and established the Cheetah Conservation Fund in 1990 in Namibia to protect them—as well the livelihoods of their human neighbors. She won the Tyler Prize for helping to develop an ecosystem-based approach to sustainable management that incorporates and respects "the knowledge and economic interests of the local population" to advance the long-term goal of protecting the cat.
Jeffrey Bader, a former U.S. ambassador to Namibia who nominated Marker, said the Cheetah Conservation Fund is "the most successful project I have ever seen to protect the world's biodiversity."
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
