Anne Welsh McNulty and the Aspen Institute have announced the 2016 John P. McNulty Prize Laureates. We are proud and honoured to have one of ALISA’s fellow of Class VI, Andrew Zaloumis. Andrew Zaloumis is the CEO of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park; deemed and selected as a worthy candidate for the Prize. Twelve ALI SA fellows where present in the gallery when Andrew’s name was announced; Adrian Einthoven (Chairman) Zohra Ibrahim (Board Member), Bruce Robertson (Board Member and Moderator), Watanan Petersik (Moderator), Ferial Haffajee (Moderator), Heather Sonn (Moderator) Andy Kawa, Sibongile Gumbi, Hanno Kemp, Basani Maluleka, Futhi Mthoba, Sedi Ngubane (ALI SA Program Manager).
Zaloumis’ work at the KwaZulu-Natal based Wetland Park; has transformed an aid dependent community to a gainfully self-employed people, who subsequently deploy their attained entrepreneurial skills to sustain themselves and practice sustainable nature conversation practices. In his own words, Zaloumis has repeatedly stated how his love and passion for human rights based development and conservation, has impacted the huge economic growth success of iSimangaliso. Andrew is up against three other successful projects in the AGLN network; Dr Amy Crockett, Liberty fellowship, South Carolina, USA; KC Hardin, Central America Leadership Initiative, Panama; Mukti Datta, Indian Leadership initiative, India.
“To be resilient and have choices in the face of rapid global change, this place of global importance needs to be locally relevant. Our strategy has been ‘rewilding’ – the restoration of ecosystems and enrichment of human life through inclusive conservation and entrepreneurship” – Andrew Zaloumis