Prince William Praises Kazakhstan’s Saiga Recovery

Britain’s Prince William has highlighted Kazakhstan’s success in restoring its saiga antelope population, crediting government support for the animal’s recovery during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Asked about the distinctive antelope and the Altyn Dala conservation initiative, William said the species had recovered from critically endangered status to large numbers. Kazakhstan’s government had recognized the animal’s importance to the country and to conservation, he said: “They threw their full weight behind it.” Video: The Graham Norton Show / So Television / BBC The exchange came during an Earthshot Prize edition of the BBC chat show broadcast on October 23, with a photograph of a saiga displayed in the studio. William appeared alongside actors Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham and conservationist Robert Irwin. Altyn Dala won the 2024 Earthshot Prize in the Protect and Restore Nature category, receiving £1 million to support its work. The initiative helps restore Kazakhstan’s vast steppe ecosystems, with the saiga’s recovery among its most prominent achievements. In an October 2025 update, Earthshot said Altyn Dala had helped the saiga population grow from around 40,000 to more than four million over two decades. The recovery followed a steep decline caused by poaching and disease. The initiative brings together Kazakhstan’s government and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, with international conservation partners. Its work includes tracking saiga movements to help protect breeding and feeding grounds. Altyn Dala has also helped return endangered Przewalski’s horses to Kazakhstan, extending its restoration work beyond the antelope that drew attention on Norton’s sofa. Separately, King Charles III sent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev a congratulatory telegram for Kazakhstan’s Republic Day, according to an October 25 statement from Akorda. The king praised the friendship between the two countries and reaffirmed his commitment to expanding bilateral cooperation.

Kazakhstan Grasslands Project Wins Environmental Prize Backed by Prince William

The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, a group dedicated to restoring and protecting Kazakhstan’s grasslands and wildlife, is one of several winners of a prize launched by Britain’s Prince William in 2020 to highlight solutions to the world’s environmental challenges. The group is among five 2024 Earthshot Prize winners that will receive 1 million British pounds each to continue and expand their work. The British royal praised the winners at an awards ceremony on Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa. The Altyn Dala group won the prize in the category for protecting and restoring nature. It has played a leading role in the recovery of the saiga antelope in recent years, marking a major conservation success in Central Asia that followed a devastating disease outbreak and fears that the species would become extinct. The prize is “the result of years of patient, collaborative and effective partnership between government & NGOs, saving a unique species and ecosystem,” Kathy Leach, Britain’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, said on X. This year, the Altyn Dala group was also involved in the transfer of several wild horses from European sanctuaries to the “Golden Steppe,” as the vast grasslands in Kazakhstan are known. The Przewalski’s horses is an endangered species that had been absent from the region for generations. Founded in 2005, Altyn Dala is a joint project involving Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology & Natural Resources, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, Fauna & Flora, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. “Beyond Kazakhstan, due to the multiple problems facing temperate grasslands globally, Altyn Dala is collaborating with other major grassland initiatives in the Mongolian steppe, the American prairie, and Patagonian pampas regions,” Altyn Dala said in a statement. It said the prize would ensure that its own knowledge and experience would “benefit nature restoration across the globe.”