Without a doubt, penguins are those animals that awaken a singular empathy and why not, universal. Their “Charlot” way of walking, their friendly face, their sense of location and their desire for survival make them especially unique and adorable. However, more than half of the eighteen species that inhabit our planet are considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This inescapable reality and the fascination since childhood for these animals, led the Argentine scientist Pablo García Borboroglu to found GPS – Global Pengüin Society -, a world organization dedicated to the conservation of all penguin species in the world, the coasts and oceans they live, whose world headquarters are in Patagonia Argentina, precisely in the city of Puerto Madryn, Chubut.
In turn, in another part of the planet, several years apart, but with the same concern for the natural environment, science and exploration; The Rolex Foundation created the Rolex Initiative Awards in 1976 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of its legendary Oyster, the first hermetic wristwatch.
The objective, since then, has been to support people with a great desire to improve themselves who undertake projects that help to better know the world, contribute to human well-being and protect natural heritage for the conservation of habitats and species. El objetivo, desde entonces, fue apoyar a personas con gran afán de superación que emprenden proyectos que ayudan a conocer mejor el mundo, contribuyen al bienestar humano y protegen el patrimonio natural para la conservación de los hábitats y de las especies.
This confluence of entrepreneurial spirit and science applied to the common good, made García Borboroglu present his project to raise awareness about the alarming situation of the world’s penguin populations and contain their current decline, in the edition of the Rolex Initiative Awards 2019. It was thus that Pablo García Borboroglu was selected as one of the ten finalists by an independent jury, before which nine hundred and fifty-seven candidates from one hundred and eleven countries were presented, and that earned him to be distinguished as Associate Laureate. This distinction implies that, due to the great interest that the ten finalists generated among the public demonstrated through their online vote, as well as the quality of the projects, Rolex decided to award the Associate Laureate Award to the five finalists, among which is the Argentine.
This confluence of entrepreneurial spirit and science applied to the common good, made García Borboroglu present his project to raise awareness about the alarming situation of the world’s penguin populations and contain their current decline, in the edition of the Rolex Initiative Awards 2019.
It was thus that Pablo García Borboroglu was selected as one of the ten finalists by an independent jury, before which nine hundred and fifty-seven candidates from one hundred and eleven countries were presented, and which earned him a distinguished Associate Laureate. This distinction implies that, due to the great interest that the ten finalists generated among the public demonstrated through their online vote, as well as the quality of the projects, Rolex decided to award the Associate Laureate Award to the five finalists, among which is the Argentine.
Esta distinción fue entregada en un evento de características únicas, en el marco de un viaje imponente al sur argentino, en donde Pablo García Borboroglu con la inmensidad del mar a sus espaldas y los nidos con sus protegidos delante, pudo contar con emoción y en primera persona que hasta la fecha un millón seiscientos mil pingüinos se han visto favorecidos por su tarea, habiendo contribuido a proteger trece millones de hectáreas de su hábitat en todo el mundo, sumado a su tarea educativa involucrando a miles de niños y niñas en la preservación del medio ambiente, el cuidado de las especies y, fundamentalmente, en la conciencia de no generar residuos plásticos, ya que los mismos afectan de manera mortal a la fauna marina en su totalidad y la salud de los océanos.
This distinction was awarded in an event with unique characteristics, within the framework of an imposing trip to southern Argentina, where Pablo García Borboroglu with the immensity of the sea behind him and the nests with his protégés in front of him, could count on emotion and at first person who to date one million six hundred thousand penguins have been favored by his work, having contributed to protecting thirteen million hectares of their habitat around the world, added to his educational task involving thousands of children in the preservation of the the environment, the care of the species and, fundamentally, in the awareness of not generating plastic waste, since it mortally affects the marine fauna as a whole and the health of the oceans. Because preserving the world in which we live and in which species inhabit whose only voice is their beauty and the silent task that nature has given them, is a fabulous commitment. As fabulous as an emblematic brand that from its origins bet on perpetuity and today works for a Perpetual Planet, added to individuals with the sensitivity of someone who at the age of nineteen knew how to see hard-working and tenacious beings in penguins, who go through each year more than sixteen thousand kilometers of oceanic waters, to return to its nest and start over and over again the magical cycle of life. Hail!
