Rolex Seeks Entries To 12th Worldwide Awards For Innovative Projects

THE ROLEX LAUREATES 2004

Lonnie Dupre: Summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean

Growing up on his parents’ farm in the U.S. state of Minnesota, Lonnie Dupre revelled in the region’s white winters and was fascinated by “the north”. Now aged 43, he has completed six major Arctic expeditions, including the first circumnavigation of Greenland by dogsled and kayak. In 2005, he and fellow explorer Eric Larsen will attempt the first summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean, by kayak and on skis, with no external support, to draw attention to the threat of global warming, particularly to the Arctic and its vulnerable ecosystems.

Claudia Feh: Forum to support reintroduction of Przewalski horses to Mongolia

Claudia Feh, who has spent more than 30 years observing free-living horses, has established herself as a world expert on their behaviour. For the past decade, Feh, originally from Switzerland, has been raising the world’s only natural herd of Przewalski horses, in France. She reintroduced the first of two groups of 12 horses to the Mongolian steppes in September 2004, and will now ensure that local nomads and international experts benefit equally from the initiative by sharing information in a pioneering learning forum in a village in western Mongolia.

David Lordkipanidze: Explore earliest known hominid site outside Africa

Since the bones of the earliest-known human ancestors to venture out of Africa came to light at Dmanisi, Georgia, in 1991, palaeoanthropologist David Lordkipanidze has led the excavation, under challenging economic and political circumstances, of what is now regarded as one of the world's foremost prehistoric sites. He has gathered an international team of scientists who, each year, make astonishing new finds that are rewriting the human story. He plans to extend the excavations and protect this and other nearby sites, building a shelter that will include a field laboratory and museum.

Teresa Manera de Bianco: Preserve prehistoric animal tracks at unique site

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