PRESS NOTE
BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity
Conservation

Francisco González, president of the BBVA Foundation: “One of the biggest
challenges facing humanity is to halt the destruction of the environment
and, especially, of biodiversity. This is a task that must be urgently
addressed and in which we must all play our part. At BBVA, we believe it is
our duty to do all we can for the sustainability of the natural resource base”

United States researchers Harold Mooney and Peter Raven, regarded as the
architects of the modern science of Biodiversity, share the 500,000 euro
prize in the category of Scientific Research in Ecology and Conservation
Biology

According to both scientists 60% of the services that ecosystems perform
have suffered some impairment, including fresh water, fisheries, air
purification, the regulation of regional and local climate or protection against
natural disasters and epidemics

The BBVA Foundation Award for Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Latin
America, with a cash prize of 250,000 euros, goes to Mexico’s Grupo
Ecológico Sierra Gorda, while the winner of the BBVA Foundation Award for
Knowledge Dissemination and Communication in Biodiversity Conservation,
funded with 80,000 euros, is environmental journalist Benigno Varillas
June 17, 2008.- The Minister of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena
Espinosa, and BBVA Foundation president Francisco González were guests of honor at
today’s presentation ceremony for the BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity
Conservation. The event took place in the Foundation’s Madrid headquarters, the
Marqués de Salamanca Palace (Madrid – Spain).
The president of the BBVA Foundation, Francisco González, stressed in this speech that
“One of the biggest challenges facing humanity is to halt the destruction of the
environment and, especially, of biodiversity. This is a task that must be urgently
addressed and in which we must all play our part”. “Biodiversity conservation”, added
Francisco González, “is clearly one of the top priorities of the 21st century and
companies are an important part of that battle; at BBVA, we believe it is our duty to
do all we can for the sustainability of the natural resource base”. In closing, the BBVA
Foundation president remarked that “the work of the award winners here today has
brought us to a deeper understanding of the effects of biodiversity losses as well as
showing us how conservation efforts can generate wealth and well-being for the
community”.
An international award jury honored the eminent scientists Harold Mooney (Stanford
University) and Peter Raven (president of the Missouri Botanical Garden) ex aequo
with the Award for Scientific Research in Ecology and Conservation Biology, carrying a
500,000 euros cash prize. The contribution of these two researchers has been
instrumental in improving our understanding of biodiversity losses, and they also lead
the world in seeking ways to prevent the destruction of planetary ecosystems.
The work of these two experts has been vital to the shift in perspective that has taken
place in conservation biology research, away from a species-centered approach to one
based on ecosystems and the services they provide to humanity. Mooney and Raven
have demonstrated that species adaptations and interactions are the two phenomena
that shape ecosystems and modulate their responses to climate change and the
pressure exerted by human activity.
Mooney is considered the leading voice in the biology of global change. His work has
been instrumental in incorporating biology into the study of global environmental
issues, including climate change, biodiversity loss and the action of invasive species.
And Raven is the author of key contributions in the biological sciences field; among
them the co-evolution concept – the evolution of two unrelated species that
nevertheless maintain an intimate ecological relationship – which he formulated on the
basis of his studies into butterflies and the plants they feed on. A kind of “arm’s race”
occurs between such species in which the plants develop mechanisms to repel insects,
and the latter evolve, in turn, to overcome these new defenses.
In the last 50 years, human beings have transformed their environment with greater
speed and intensity than at any other time in history. Scientists estimate that 60% of
the services supplied by ecosystems have suffered some degradation or are being
used unsustainably, including fresh water, fisheries, air and water purification, the
regulation of regional and local climate or protection against natural risks and
epidemics.
Harold Mooney and Peter Raven contend that the combination of rapid population
growth (to a current 6,700 million people), the continuing consumerist frenzy and the
proliferation throughout the planet of harmful and, frequently, ill-conceived
technologies is ravaging our biodiversity: estimates drawn up for diverse groups of
organisms confirm that many are undergoing a reduction in population size and
dispersal areas, and it is reckoned that between 10% and 30% of mammal, bird and
amphibian species are currently under threat of extinction. In sum, biodiversity loss is
happening now and some of the damage can never be reversed.
The BBVA Foundation Award for Biodiversity Conservation Projects in Latin America,
with a cash prize of 250,000 euros, goes to Mexico’s Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda
2
“for demonstrating with their Management Program of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere
Reserve that biodiversity conservation”, in the words of the jury, “generates wealth
and well-being for the community”.
In 1999, the Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda set in train a co-management model
involving shared responsibilities between the Mexican Government and civil society for
the management of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve; the protected space with the
richest ecological diversity in all of Mexico with a total extension of 383,567 hectares.
Because of its location between two distinct bio-geographical regions, Sierra Gordo
harbors 15 types and subtypes of vegetation, as well as over 1,800 vascular plant
species, 124 fungi species and 550 vertebrates, including protected species like the
jaguar, black bear, Humboldt butterfly and military macaw. This project has not only
achieved quantifiable results in the restoration of ecosystems and landscapes, it has
also helped raise additional income from activities compatible with the area’s
biodiversity, which have benefited 107 local communities.
The BBVA Foundation Award for Knowledge Dissemination and Communication in
Biodiversity Conservation, with a prize of 80,000 euros, goes to environmental
journalist Benigno Varillas, founder of nature magazine Quercus “for the quality of
his long and pioneering professional career in the environmental communication field”.
The jury also underscored that Benigno Varillas has created a new school in the
communication of ecological and nature conservation values in Spain.
The BVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation, whose global prize money
of over one million euros is the highest of its kind internationally, seek to recognize
and support the work of the scientific community, organizations and professionals
devoting their energies to the central challenge of the 21st century that is biodiversity
conservation. These Awards exemplify the BBVA Foundation’s commitment to the
goals of sustainable development and an improved quality of life for all citizens.
3