A Zambian man has won a prestigious Goldman Prize for helping to curb widespread elephant poaching by setting up economic projects for villagers. Hammerskjoeld Simwinga wins $125,000 for the award, sometimes called the Nobel prize for the environment.

He helped set up bee-keeping and fish-farming projects for people in the North Luangwa valley, where elephant numbers had shown a dramatic fall. He persuades local people they can earn money by keeping elephants alive. The elephants help attract tourists, and their money, to the region.

"People are now seeing the benefit of protecting their natural resources," Mr Simwinga said. "Not only do they see the beauty of a live animal, but the live animals are now putting money in their pockets."

Threat

Over 70% of loans are made to women and Mr Simwinga says they are the backbone of the programme. "We deliberately pushed our resources to the womenfolk in the community because we knew that working with the women was the strongest part of persuasion," he told Reuters news agency.

Local communities were given a grinding mill ... Read more »