Podcast: Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (2018 Marjan-Marsh Award)

Date of Publication: 02/02/2019 Description: In November 2018 The Marjan-Marsh Prize awarded by the Department of War Studies in partnership with the Marsh Christian Trust was presented to Milan Ruzic, President of the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia (BPSSS). This award is given annually to someone who has made an invaluable contribution to an area where conflict and conservation overlap. The Marsh Christian Trust was started in 1981 by businessman Brian Marsh to honour ‘unsung heroes’; since then the portfolio of awards has grown to over 70 across a wide spectrum that includes conservation, arts, heritage and social welfare. After the 1990’s Balkan wars, many of the paramilitary groupings morphed into criminal syndicates running everything from guns, humans, drugs, illegal cigarettes and more. A lesser known stream of illegal activity is the trade in wild birds, which are plentiful in the Balkans due to its location as a major fly-way between Africa and Europe. The trade is fuelled mainly in two ways: dead birds for human consumption, delivered throughout Europe, and a thriving shooting/hunting trade focused on quail and doves when hundreds can be shot in a day. All of this occurs despite a raft of international laws either forbidding this trade or restricting the shooting to certain periods. Milan Ruzic from the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia received this award in recognition of his work to stop this illegal trade. He is the first European recipient of the Marjan Marsh award for conservation. During his visit to King’s to receive the award Milan was asked about the aims of BPSSS and about the risks that he and his colleagues face. Previous recipients include; (2012): John Kahekwa: from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Founder of the Pole Pole Foundation (POPOF) in Bukavu, in eastern DRC, the foundation works in the Kahusi-Biega National Park, home of the Graurer’s or Eastern Lowland gorilla, by providing sustainable development in an area that has known terrible bloodshed. (2013): Dr Sonali Ghosh: from India. Awarded for her work on the Manas Project which works to protect the biodiversity in the much contested Manas eco-region in the Himalayas, focusing on the conservation of the Bengal tiger. (2017): ‘Community Wildlife Ambassadors’: from South Sudan, Western Equatoria region. While the world’s youngest country grapples with legacies of conflict, famine and atrocity wildlife plays a crucial role as the National Parks and Game Reserves provide ‘islands’ of stability and security. ____________________________ For more news and information on upcoming events, please visit our website at kcl.ac.uk/warstudies