Shailendra Singh wins global award in turtle conservation

• Indian aquatic wildlife biologist Shailendra Singh has been awarded the 16th Behler Turtle Conservation Award.

• It was announced by the Turtle Survival Alliance, IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Turtle Conservancy, and Turtle Conservation Fund. 

• Shailendra Singh, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, was named to lead the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA)/Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India turtle programme in 2008. 

• Since then, he has expanded the TSA India Program to include research, conservation, assurance colony building, community engagement, and outreach. 

• The programme now protects 18 of India’s 29 turtle and tortoise species, several of them regarded as Critically Endangered.

Behler Turtle Conservation Award 

• The Behler Turtle Conservation Award is widely considered the “Nobel Prize” of turtle conservation and biology.

• The Award was established in 2006 to recognise outstanding achievements, contributions and leadership excellence in international turtle conservation and biology. 

• The Award honours and commemorates the memory and legacy of late John L. Behler, former Curator of Herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York. 

• The annual awardee is determined through a broad-based nomination and selection process overseen by the Behler Award Committee. 

• The Award carries an honorarium of $5000.

• The Award is co-presented by the Turtle Survival Alliance, IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Turtle Conservancy, and the Turtle Conservation Fund.

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