Our friends and colleagues
On 23 September 2006, 24 people lost their lives in a helicopter crash in Nepal. Among them were seven WWF staff from around the world, including Dr Jillian Bowling Schlaepfer and Jennifer Headley from WWF-UK.
In honour of their memory, WWF set up a memorial fund to secure the future of the Eastern Himalayan programme, in which they were deeply involved, and to establish university scholarships for promising students from rural communities in the Himalayas.
The first scholarships have now been awarded. The recipient of the Jillian Bowling Schlaepfer Memorial Scholarship 2007 is Sher Bahadur Pariyar, who has studied with the Institute of Forestry and is a volunteer in community development. And the Jennifer Headley Memorial Scholarship 2007 has been awarded to Maryada Shrestha, who has also studied at the Institute of Forestry and is active in community forestry projects.
Both students will now pursue Bachelor of Forestry studies in preparation for their careers in conservation.
To commemorate the first anniversary of the helicopter crash, four sites in Nepal have been designated by the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international importance. They are Gokyo in Sagarmatha National Park, Phoksundo in the Shey Phoksundo National Park, Gosaikunda in Langtang National Park and Rara Lake.
“We dedicate these high-altitude wetland sites to our conservation heroes, which will always remind us of their dedication and their selfless contributions to conserve biodiversity and natural resources,” said Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal.