2022 Jersey Conservation Awards Winners

Our 2022 Conservation Awards Best Conservation Project winner in Jersey, has been named as Kevin McIlwee from Jersey Marine Conservation with his 70-4-70 Project.

The Conservation Awards were introduced in 1990 to recognise local projects undertaking important environmental work and nature conservation across the islands. The objective of the 70-4-70 Project, commemorating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is to encourage wide reaching engagement to do something of positive benefit to the community, whilst collecting valuable data which will be recorded in the Jersey Biodiversity Centre database to assist in finding ways to safeguard the marine environment.

70-4-70 will directly help prevent harmful waste and materials from finding their way into our beautiful oceans. 70, because you will be identifying and logging 70 marine species and collecting and recording 70 pieces of litter.

Kevin McIlwee, Chairman of Jersey Marine Conservation, explained as an island, we are in a position where we have to take responsibility for what ends up in the ocean around us. Any waste we produce has a chance of affecting the global marine environment and the Queen’s 70th anniversary is a good time to get the whole Island involved’.

Michelle Steele, HR & PR Executive for Insurance Corporation and Chairperson of the Judging panel said ‘we were impressed by the inclusive nature of the project, meaning that anyone in Jersey could play their part in eliminating rubbish from our beaches, at the same time recognising and recording the many marine species that support the biodiversity of our island’. 

This year’s Runner-up Prize was awarded Emily Dow for her St Catherine's Seagrass Project. Seagrass can store huge amounts of carbon and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and Jersey’s biggest meadow in St Catherine’s harbour is therefore of massive importance. The project will accurately survey the existing seagrass area and look at ways to restore growth and monitor regrowth.

The Best Youth Group / School Class was awarded to D’Auvergne Primary School for their Green Schoolyard project. The school aims to be a truly 'green fingered' with the project aiming to bring together all elements of outdoor learning, conservation and well-being, whilst also enhancing the school grounds for wildlife, for people and for education.

Meanwhile, Islanders were invited to vote for their favourite entry through an online poll, to win The Peter Walpole People’s Choice Award. The Award was created in honour of the founder of Insurance Corporation and Michelle said ‘we were once again delighted by the number of votes received and interest from the public and I am delighted to say that this year’s winner was YiLin Kuo for his project investigating the carbon sequestration potential of seagrass and seagrass mapping.

YiLin will undertake his project by kayak, in St. Catherine’s Bay and using GPS positioning and a waterproof camera. He is aiming to collect and analyze important data to allow him to undertake seagrass mapping with GIS software.

Michelle summarised ‘our awards have been running for over three decades and we continue to be delighted by the diverse and exciting range of entries we receive. There are so many islanders committed to protecting and enhancing the natural environment within Jersey and this has to be a wonderful thing for our community and the future of our Island – our congratulations go to them all'