Cambridge, England, July 17, 2007 -- The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) is proud to announce the winners of the 2007 Conservation Leadership Awards. This year, the Programme awarded 26 awards to research teams in 19 different countries with support totalling $502,500.

CLP, formerly known as the BP Conservation Programme, supports the vital work of a new rising generation of conservation professionals who are helping to drive practical projects addressing a wide range of global environmental issues from protecting sharks in Brazil to conservation of threatened amphibians in Colombia and endangered turtles in Cambodia to the assessment and conservation of threatened bird species in China.

The Conservation Leadership Programme offers support to teams of emerging conservation professionals across a set of countries chosen by BP based on areas of significant business interest, said Marianne Carter, CLP Executive Manager. And this support allows the Programme to maximise conservation impact in these unique places around the world.

This years awards were given to 26 teams in the following categories; three leadership awards, seven follow-up awards and 16 future conservationist awards. Team research specialized in amphibian, bird, fish, mammal, reptile, plant and habitat research. The annual awards aim to develop leadership potential in a new generation of conservation professionals and address global conservation priorities at a local level by assisting and encouraging teams of young people to undertake important conservation projects globally.

The winning projects are:

• Amburana Project: Determining the status of an endangered tree species: Amburana cearensis in Argentina;
• Conservation Field Training for Young Park-rangers in Argentina;
• Project Seabirds Argentina: Conservation Through Community Involvement;
• Evaluation of Important Sites for Flamingos in the Bolivian Altiplano: Raising
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