The story of the fight for penguins of the biologist who won the ‘Nobel’ for animal conservation

This week, the news brought a new example of a classic: an Argentine, a CONICET researcher specializing in environmental conservation issues, has just received one of the most outstanding global awards in the world of ecology: the biologist Pablo Borboroglu, specialized in the study of penguins and the coastal environment of Argentina and other beaches in the region, he was distinguished in London, with the Indianapolis 2023 prize.

This award –given by the Indianapolis Zoological Society– consists of a medal and a check for US$250,000 that the winner will invest in conservation projects.

Who is the new recipient of the prize that is considered the equivalent of a ‘Nobel’ in the world of conservation and sustainability? He is a descendant of Greek immigrants, settled in Chubut since the beginning of the 20th century, who is currently a Conicet researcher at Cenpat, an institute that operates in the city of Puerto Madryn.

Borboroglu completed his undergraduate studies at the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia, obtained his doctorate at the Universidad del Comahue and later traveled to the US to specialize in institutions such as Duke University.

Borboroglu has now received the Indianapolis Prize 2023 –it is worth remembering, it is the first time a Latin American scientist has won it–, in recognition of his career of more than three decades of work that led him to become today one of the highest global references in matter of ecology of penguins and in the conservation of their territories and habitats, both terrestrial and marine.

In an interview with PROFILE, Borboroglu recalled how his vocation was born: “As a child, my grandmother used to tell me what the coastal penguin colonies she visited on horseback were like.” Years later, in the 1980s, penguins continued to exist, but with their future threatened: “At that time, around 40,000 penguins died per year due to oil spills in Chubut”, something that evidently marked that teenager and led him to his environmental vocation. In fact, he participated as a volunteer in missions that sought to “unoil” contaminated animals.

His scientific and environmental work grew, and his proposals, together with those of some NGOs, achieved a concrete result: that the usual course of ships would move far enough from the Patagonian coasts to significantly reduce the contamination of the beaches. south due to fuel spills. “Currently, for this reason, barely twenty penguins die each year,” the specialist is proud.

Many years later, in 2009, Borboroglu, already a scientist, founded the Global Penguin Society (GPS), an environmental entity that pursued various environmental protection statuses for a geographic area that encompasses around 13 million hectares of marine and terrestrial habitat where penguins and other coastal species can live in peace.

As the award-winning interviewee explained to PROFIL in an online interview made from London, after receiving this recognized distinction, “GPS is an international organization dedicated to protecting, throughout the world, the specimens of the 18 species of penguins identified that exist on our planet today. And he added that: “Almost half of those species (nine) are today characterized as “threatened” by extinction.

Addressing this problem is not a mere whim. “Monitoring the conservation status of penguins is key, because it is an indicator that reflects very well the worrying state of general ‘environmental health’ of the oceans.”

Among the threats that hang over these animals are both those of the sea and those of the land, their two habitats. In the former, poor commercial fishing practices and environmental pollution hang over them. On land, they are attacked by human disturbance and the introduction of certain exotic predatory species against which the species did not develop, evolutionarily, defense strategies. And, of course, in recent years, climate change is diminishing for some species, which accelerates the melting of the ice and is moving away their basic food from their nests.

Penguins are animals especially sensitive to environmental threats: they are unable to fly to escape, they lay only one or two eggs per reproductive period, and some pairs can spend up to 15 months of their lives caring for their chicks.

One of the examples of the success of his conservation ideas is located in the El Pedral neighborhood, on the Argentine coast. When he arrived, there were only six breeding pairs. After achieving the status of the area as a “wildlife refuge” and reducing the impact of human activity in the region, the colony grew and currently houses four thousand reproductives.

Education. Borboroglu and her team have invested time and effort in education: their specific program has, so far, reached 200,000 students from various countries with educational materials on ecology. In fact, they have collaborated creating games and specific content, as well as doing live online shows from animal colonies for various multinational companies, such as Disney or National Geographic. These companies then disseminate that material through their global platforms.

In any case, Borboroglu assures that among the most effective actions that his NGO organizes on a regular basis are the “field visits” that, until now, they have carried out with about seven boys who live in areas surrounding the penguin colonies. They have also prepared brochures and books on conservation issues that are distributed free of charge in educational institutions.

Offshore oil and wildlife

The expert also had time to express his opinion on the strong local debate about whether or not to allow offshore oil exploration and exploitation in the Argentine Sea. In this sense, he was categorical: he told PROFILE: “What I think about oil development on the Argentine platform is that it really seems crazy to me. First, because not only the exploration itself and the seismic explosions that are used generate a tremendous acoustic impact that can cause mortality of the animals that are nearby, but also the protocols established for their “protection” are a farce. , since they are impracticable and unfeasible”.

On the other hand, at a conceptual level it is also a wrong situation. “In a world like today, with the advance of the global warming process and with the demands of a better environment to try to reduce the combustion of fossil fuels, doing this really is crazy: producing oil to burn the atmosphere, while They are setting fire to the forests of Argentina and the world, it does not have any kind of alignment with any environmental agenda of the current world”.