Minister Lisel Alamilla is a finalist for Prestigious Conservation Award

Lisel Alamilla

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Lisel Alamilla, has been named a finalist for a prestigious conservation award from the Whitley Fund for Nature. Alamilla has been selected for her work with the Ya’axche Conservation Trust, which promotes the protection of the Maya Golden Landscape in southern Belize. As one of seven international finalists for the Whitley Award, Alamilla has an opportunity to win funding for Ya’axche to continue its work in the south. The next step is a trip to London in May for interviews with the panel of experts that will select the winning conservationists. While in London, Alamilla will also meet Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne and receive professional development training. The other finalists are from Peru, Indonesia, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Guatemala and Costa Rica. In 2011, Belizean Dr. Rachel Graham won the Whitley Gold Award for her work in saving whale sharks from extinction in Belize. Graham is the Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Gulf and Caribbean Sharks and Rays Program. She received just under two hundred thousand dollars to fund her work.