A FILMMAKER and anthropologist who wants to “help save the environment” has won a top honour which will allow her to undertake a pioneering expedition to Central America.

Globetrotter Charlotte Austwick, 26, from Monmouth, was awarded the Scientific Exploration Society Rivers Foundation Explorer award for Health and Humanities at a prestigious ceremony at the Law Society in London. As part of her MA studies in Social Anthropology (specialising in visual anthropology) at Kent University, she lived and filmed with a Mayan community deep in the Central American rainforest for her research and discovered what the archaeological remains of Belize hold for the indigenous people of today.

And she revealed: “With this award I will be returning to the jungles of Belize and working with the Maya to create educational resources in their native language, which due to globalisation is forcing the extinction of their language and culture. I aim to help save the environment and contribute to repairing the damage that humanity has done, while educating people to live in harmony with its natural surroundings.”

Her award was presented by Alan Rivers, chairman of the Rivers Foundation. For more information and any donations see her website at www.charlotteaustwick.co.uk