10th edition of the BBVA Foundation awards for Biodiversity Conservation
The BBVA Foundation recognizes the birdlife recovery efforts of GREFA, the environmental philanthropy of Douglas Tompkins and the “nature sounds” of Carlos de Hita
· The award for Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Spain goes to the Grupo para la Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA) for its success in recovering threatened species like the cinereous vulture and Bonelli’s eagle in parts of Spain where they have been extinct for decades.
· The winner in the Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Latin America category is The Conservation Land Trust, founded by philanthropist Douglas Tompkins, whose work enabled the creation of eight national parks in Argentina and Chile with a combined area of over one million hectares.
· In Knowledge Dissemination and Communication in Biodiversity Conservation, Carlos de Hita is recognized for a body of work that conveys the beauty and fragility of nature by letting its sounds ring out in top news media – from the song of birds to the roar of an oil slick tide.
· The BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation distinguish actions to conserve nature, based on a scientific understanding of the natural environment, which have produced practical results of wide-ranging impact.
Madrid, September 23, 2016.- The BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation recognize individuals and organizations working to protect nature that have achieved significant, measurable results of lasting impact. The awards in this 10th edition have been bestowed on Grupo para la Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA); the Conservation Land Trust (CLT) founded by philanthropist Douglas Tompkins; and communications professional Carlos de Hita, a regular contributor to newspaper El Mundo, Cadena SER radio and other media, which broadcast his haunting soundscapes of nature.
Biodiversity conservation is a priority focus area for the BBVA Foundation, which promotes not only efforts to advance scientific understanding of the natural environment but also direct action on the ground pursuing its greater protection. It is precisely these practical successes that are addressed by the BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation, which distinguish people and institutions able to mobilize scientific knowledge to inform action or influence public opinion. Hence the division of the awards into three categories, two of them for conservation projects in Spain and Latin America, and one reserved for achievements in communication.
The prestige of the award jury, formed by researchers, media professionals and NGOs (see list at the end of this document), and a combined cash prize of 580,000 euros, place the BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation among the foremost international honors in the environment area.
Since they were established in 2004, the awards have supported the protection of wetlands, important bird areas and drovers’ road networks in Spain; bats in Mexico, southern right whales in Argentina and amphibians in Panama. They have also recognized the defense of Mediterranean biodiversity, the campaign to establish marine reserves off the Iberian Peninsula, and the dedication of the Guardia Civil’s nature protection service Seprona. In the knowledge dissemination and communication category, awards to date have addressed multiple facets of journalism, audiovisual production, publishing and illustration.
Projects in Spain: GREFA
The award goes to GREFA "for its high-impact projects to conserve species, with a focus on birdlife,” in the words of the jury’s citation, “through campaigns in defense of Bonelli’s eagle and the cinereous vulture, and the establishment of breeding colonies for the lesser kestrel and Spanish imperial eagle.” GREFA, it continues, “has pioneered the development of veterinary care techniques for the wildlife in its recovery centers.” It has also “maintained an active social presence, providing an operational and management model for other conservationist organizations.”
Founded in 1981, GREFA’s membership is made up of naturalists, biologists and veterinary professionals, alongside numerous volunteers. In its 35-year existence, it has successfully recovered cinereous vulture colonies extinct for more than 60 years in the provinces of Lleida and Burgos, as well as a Bonelli’s eagle population in Mallorca, where the bird had not been seen for 40 years. It has also bred 3,700 specimens of threatened species, later freed into the wild; opened up biological corridors for the lesser kestrel; and reintroduced the golden eagle to the Galicia region. Its vets have treated 54,000 animals in the Autochthonous Wildlife Hospital in Majadahonda (Madrid), an effort that has called for close collaboration with nature protection agents and local authorities, as well as the involvement of citizens who report the discovery of injured animals.
The jury also made reference to the organization’s broad-ranging environmental education program, which includes welcoming over 11,000 visitors a year to its “Naturaleza Viva” center. At the time of writing, GREFA has over 2,400 members.
Projects in Latin America: The Conservation Land Trust
The Conservation Land Trust (CLT) wins the award, in the words of the jury, “for its major contribution to biodiversity conservation in Chile and Argentina through the creation and expansion of eight large protected areas occupying over one million hectares, whose management is turned over to the government.”
CLT was established in 1992 by Douglas Tompkins, the founder of clothing brands ESPRIT and The North Face who died of hypothermia in December 2015 after suffering a kayak accident in the south of Chile. Tompkins turned his back on business in the mid-1990s to devote himself 100% to conservation. The jury highlighted his “vision and leadership” in this area, deploying a strategy that combines “private purchases of land, habitat restoration, the recovery of threatened species and the creation of economic alternatives in partnership with local communities.” Through Tompkins, the jury added, the award also recognizes the value of promoting altruistic participation as a means to conserve nature.”
CLT is the world’s largest private land conservation initiative for the purpose of biodiversity conservation. With the help of experts and local organizations, the scheme whereby it buys up private land and turns it over to the governments of Chile and Argentina for conservation in perpetuity has over the years extended protection to upwards of one million hectares of Atlantic forest, wetlands, grassland, temperate rainforest, steppes and endemic Patagonian forest. These varied systems correspond to the national parks of Monte León, Patagonia-Argentina and El Impenetrable in Argentina, and Corcovado and Yendagaia in Chile, the provincial parks El Piñalito in Argentina and El Cañí in Chile, and the major enlargement of Argentina’s Perito Moreno National Park.
CLT devotes resources to the restoration of these natural spaces, and facilitating their sustainable use by the local population. Experts from the organization also lead the reintroduction to the parks of regionally threatened or extinct species, some as emblematic as the puma, the Andean condor or the giant anteater.
Knowledge dissemination and communication: Carlos de Hita
The award is granted to Carlos de Hita “for his groundbreaking, innovative endeavors in recording and disseminating a wide range of nature sounds”; work which, in the view of the jury “has introduced citizens to unknown parcels of nature, conveying a powerful conservation message.” It also singles out his “passionate dedication to familiarizing the public with the sound dimension of the natural world, which has earned him international renown.”
De Hita defines his goal as to “let nature describe itself through its sounds.” In the course of his career, he has built up an extensive sound archive featuring Spanish wildlife but also wildlife in Africa, Asia and Amazonia, as well as traditional activities and the principal soundscapes of the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands.
These sounds first came to the public’s attention in 1991, when Iñaki Gabilondo invited him to take part in the popular radio program Hoy por Hoy of Cadena SER: “It was an absolute first, nature sounds in the news,” the awardee recalls. “Through our ears and our imagination, the radio transports us to the natural world, which teaches us that its voices sound stronger where it is protected and weaker where it is attacked.” For three years, De Hita has been making himself or, rather, nature heard through his weekly audio blog El sonido de la naturaleza, which appears every Saturday on ELMUNDO.es.
The nature sounds in his collection have been reproduced in countless documentaries and films, apps and birdsong guides. They have echoed across the empty rooms of museums and been heard in art galleries, stone churches and interpretation centers. De Hita has mounted sound installations at PhotoEspana and in the Centro Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), among others. In 2006, he received an Emmy nomination in the music and sound category for his work with National Geographic.
Jury members
The jury in this edition was chaired by Rafael Pardo, Director of the BBVA Foundation, with members Alberto Aguirre de Cárcer, Director of daily newspaper La Verdad, Murcia; Javier Gregori, Chief Science and Environment Editor with radio broadcaster Cadena SER; Pedro Jordano, Research Professor at the Doñana Biological Station of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC); Nuria Marbá, Research Scientist at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, CSIC - Universitat de Les Illes Balears; Eulalia Moreno, Research Professor at the Arid Zones Experimental Station, CSIC; Juan Carlos del Olmo, General Secretary of WWF España; Begoña Peco, Professor of Ecology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Cristina Ribas, President of the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication; and Rafael Zardoya, Research Professor at the Spanish Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC.
For more information, contact the BBVA Foundation Department of Communication and Institutional Relations (+34 91 374 3139; 91 374 5210; 91 374 8173/) or visit www.fbbva.es