Since 2003, the Chicago Zoological Society’s (CZS) Board of Trustees and Women’s Board have been hosting the Society’s annual Conservation Leadership Awards celebration to recognize individuals who have made significant impacts and commitments to conservation and animal welfare, both locally and globally. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Conservation Leadership Awards event was held virtually on Thursday, November 12. 

The 2020 recipient of the George B. Rabb Conservation Medal is Dr Jon Paul Rodríguez, Ph.D., chair of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Elected chair in 2016, Dr Rodríguez is the first person outside of Europe or North America to hold this position. Considered one of Venezuela’s most-respected scientists for his extensive field conservation efforts with the Vulnerable yellow-shouldered parrot (Amazona barbadensis), Dr Rodríguez is also co-founder and president of Provita, a non-governmental organization that works to protect threatened wildlife in that country. Additionally, he is a professor at the Center for Ecology of the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Investigation and 2019 Whitley Fund for Nature Gold Awardee for his outstanding contributions to conservation.

“Each year, we celebrate the achievements of an individual who shares our mission to inspire conservation leadership by engaging people and communities with wildlife and nature and lead the charge in animal advocacy and welfare,” says Stuart Strahl, president and CEO of CZS, which manages Brookfield Zoo. “The Chicago Zoological Society is pleased to honor Dr Rodríguez for being a true leader in the conservation community and sharing our passion of protecting the ecosystem and wildlife.”

“This is one more recognition to the Provita and SSC teams for being the best that one can dream of. I am deeply grateful to CZS for their award, especially for this medal given in memory of one of SSC's most outstanding leaders, and extremely proud of my teams, who are the true winners”, says IUCN Species Survival Commission Chair, Jon Paul Rodríguez.

The Conservation Leadership Awards were created in 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Zoological Society to honor the lifelong legacy of animal welfare and the worldwide conservation leadership of George Rabb, Ph.D., president emeritus of the Society, and former IUCN Species Survival Commission Chair from 1989 to 1996. For further information about the Chicago Zoological Society’s Conservation Leadership Awards celebration, go to CZS Conservation Leadership Awards.