PROF PIMM RECEIVES WORLD SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

Prof Stuart Pimm is a renowned conservation scholar and professor at the University of Pretoria’s Conservation Ecology Research Unit, Department of Zoology and Entomology. He recently received the 2025 World Sustainability Award in recognition of his contribution to sustainability and development. He is also Distinguished Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, USA.

The award will be presented to him in October at the 11^th World Sustainability Forum in Barcelona, Spain.

In 2024, UP’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences awarded Prof Pimm an honorary doctorate for his outstanding contribution to conservation biology. He studies why species become extinct, the rate of extinction and the global patterns of habitat loss, amongst other things.

He has published almost 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers in leading journals, including Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also published six books, including The Balance of Nature and The World According to Pimm, a Scientist Audits the Earth.

Through his NGO, Saving Nature, which he founded in 2007, Prof. Pimm combines his theoretical understanding of patterns of biodiversity loss with the implementation of practical conservation solutions. Saving Nature’s mission is to rescue endangered habitats and vulnerable communities from environmental destruction. This is done by targeting the most biologically rich and threatened places on Earth. For each project, Saving Nature partners with well-established local conservation groups that purchase, restore and manage protected areas.

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