GC Senior Advisor Dr. Gerardo Ceballos Finalist for 2020 Indianapolis Prize

Global Conservation is proud to announce that GC Senior Advisor - Dr. Gerardo Ceballos, is finalist for the 2020 Indianapolis Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious awards for Nature Conservation.

Dr. Ceballos has been instrumental to help found Global Conservation and set our strategic priorities for world heritage and national park and wildlife protection in developing countries.

Global Conservation’s Senior Advisor - Dr. Gerardo Ceballos – was chosen for his groundbreaking research and animal conservation in Mexico and parks and wildlife protection worldwide and founder of major new campaign to STOP Extinction.

Dr. Ceballos was a key proponent in the passage of Mexico’s Endangered Species Act, which now protects more than 40,000 animals. He has developed successful conservation strategies for a wide variety of species, including the jaguar and the black-footed ferret – the most endangered mammal in North America. Gerardo approaches conservation in a way that is broadly applicable and undeniably impactful.

The Indianapolis Prize combines significant financial support with programs that build emotional and intellectual support, one person at a time, over many years and several generations. The Prize combines a monetary award large enough to have a serious impact on an individual conservationist with programs that inspire and educate the public about the true heroes of conservation and their dedication, and ultimately, their victories in the constant battle to save wildlife and wild places from extinction.

The Indianapolis Prize awards $250,000 to an animal conservationist who has achieved major victories in advancing the sustainability of an animal species or group of species. The Prize also awards five Finalists with $10,000 each. Granted biennially, this award was established to bring the world’s attention to the cause of animal conservation and the brave, talented and dedicated men and women who spend their lives saving the Earth’s endangered animal species.

“The rate at which animal extinctions have occurred over the last century is at least 100 times higher than what can be considered natural. More than one million animal species are now threatened with extinction. We can all find hope and inspiration in the victories of these conservationists who do the difficult work of saving animal species.” 

        Dr. Rob Shumaker, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoological Society.

The Indianapolis Prize recognizes and rewards conservationists who have achieved major victories in advancing the sustainability of animal species. Placing the Winner and Finalists on the pedestal usually reserved for sports and entertainment stars, the impact can be measured by the successes of these men and women working selflessly for wild things and wild places, and by the changes in the lives of countless others inspired by their victories. Over the years, more than 150 nominees have shared their journeys — protecting animals large and small, discovering new species and bringing populations back from the very brink of extinction.

World famous Dr. Sylvia Earle is also nominated Finalist for the award who established a global network of protected marine preserves and spent more than 7,000 hours underwater researching and monitoring sea life, as well as  John Robinson, Ph.D. who founded Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) International Division to establish protected areas for endangered wildlife and marine life around the world including tigers, gorillas, forest elephants, coral species and other. Dr. Robinson is the chief conservation officer of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

STOP Extinction’s 5 Year Goals

- Protect 25 Endangered Wildlife National Parks by 2025

- Deploy Online Global Species Conservation Database

- Secure New Government Agreements for Species Protection

- Partner with Global Movements for Climate and Extinction

For more in-depth background on STOP Extinction see:

stopextinctions.org

To purchase Dr. Gerardo Ceballos' book The Annihilation of Nature, go to Amazon.

For background on GC Projects helping to protect UNESCO World Heritage parks and wildlife, see:

globalconservation.org/projects

For a list of Global Conservation's Board of Senior Advisors, see:

globalconservation.org/about/

To view the Stop Extinction Kickoff Seminar 2020

About Dr. Gerardo Ceballos

Dr. Gerardo Ceballos is leading a new campaign to STOP Extinction which kicked off in 2020. Global Conservation and Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology are working together with the Climate Emergency Fund to STOP Extinction of Globally Endangered Species.

See Dr. Gerardo Ceballos in this video on Global Conservation’s work top protect the DaMaI Rainforest Complex: Saving the Heart of Borneo.

Elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2019

Dr. Gerardo Ceballos is also one of just 3,000 esteemed members elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, including only 4 Mexican nationals.

For more information, see:

http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20044085.html

Biography

Dr. Gerardo Ceballos is an ecologist and conservationist very well-known for his theoretical and empirical work on animal ecology and conservation. He is particularly recognized by his influential work on global patterns of distribution of diversity, endemism, and extinction risk in vertebrates. Ceballos was the first scientist to publish the distribution of a complete group of organisms (mammals). He is also well – known for his contribution to understanding the magnitude and impacts of the sixth mass extinction; he has shown that vertebrate species that became extinct in the last century would have taken more than 10 thousand years under the “normal” extinction rate. He was born in Toluca city, in the State of Mexico, in Mexico. He received a bachelor degree in biology at the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City in 1975. He received a Master degree in ecology from the University of Wales in 1981. And he got his PhD degree in ecology and evolutionary ecology at the University of Arizona in 1989.  He joined the faculty of the Institute of Ecology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in 1989, where he is currently a professor. He has been the president of the Mexican Mammal Society, and is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Interests

Gerardo Ceballos’ laboratory is interested in animal population and community ecology, extinction patterns and processes, and linking conservation and development.  His lab has carried out the longest population and community ecology study of small mammals in the tropics of the World. A unique feature of his lab is the strong emphasis on applying ecological science for solving conservation problems. His lab has pioneering studies for designing protected areas, evaluating global patterns of species distribution and conservation, and evaluating current extinction rates. His lab has made an enormous contribution to conservation in Mexico managing to promote the creation of federal protected areas covering almost 2% of the territory of Mexico; and he promoted the first Mexican endangered species act.

Dr. Gerardo Ceballos' Lab at UNAM - EcoLab

www.ecolabunam.com

About The Indianapolis Prize

The Indianapolis Prize recognizes and rewards conservationists who have achieved major victories in advancing the sustainability of animal species. Placing the Winner and Finalists on the pedestal usually reserved for sports and entertainment stars, the impact can be measured by the successes of these men and women working selflessly for wild things and wild places, and by the changes in the lives of countless others inspired by their victories. Over the years, more than 150 nominees have shared their journeys — protecting animals large and small, discovering new species and bringing populations back from the very brink of extinction

For more information on the The Indianapolis Prize, see:

www.indianapoliszoo.com/prize