It\u2019s a peng-win for Dr Pablo Borboroglu. <\/p>
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it\u2019s not even Superman. It\u2019s The Penguin Protector.<\/p>\n
Argentine conservationist Dr Pablo Borboroglu<\/a>, dubbed \u2018The Penguin Protector\u2019 because of his work to conserve the world\u2019s 18 species of the flightless bird, has today been awarded the 2023 Indianapolis Prize, known as the Nobel prize of the conservation world.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a dream,\u201d Borboroglu told BBC Science Focus<\/em>. \u201cI was so thrilled just to be nominated. Then when I got into the final, it was mind-blowing to be recognised for all the work that I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n Over three decades, Borboroglu has become an internationally recognised expert on penguin ecology and conservation. He founded the Global Penguin Society in 2009 and currently serves as its president, and also co-founded the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Penguin Specialist Group. Through this work, Borboroglu has helped to protect over two and a half million penguins worldwide.<\/p>\n Borboroglu is the first Indianapolis Prize winner from South America, selected from a group of finalists from five different countries around the world.<\/p>\n He is \u201can extraordinary example of someone who has positively impacted the survival of a species,\u201d Dr Robert Shumaker<\/a>, President of Indianpolis Zoo, told BBC Science Focus<\/em>. \u201cHis accomplishments fit perfectly for what we have always looked for and what we desire when it comes to the person who receives the Indianapolis Prize.\u201d<\/p>\n Borboroglu has used his winner\u2019s platform to explain that our future is tied to penguins: \u201cWe suffer the same problems that penguins are facing \u2013 we are under threat as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Penguins are excellent indicators of ocean health, including threats from climate change<\/a>, plastic pollution, oil extraction, and fisheries, according to Borboroglu. Because of the vast distances of land and sea that they live in and travel across, \u201cwhen you protect their habitat, you\u2019re protecting hundreds of other species that coexist with the penguins.\u201d<\/p>\n Awarded by the Indianapolis Zoological Society, the winner of the prize receives $250,000 (just under \u00a3200,000): the largest monetary for conservationists award in the world. The prize aims to recognise, reward and celebrate exceptional individuals who have made a dramatic difference to a species or group of species.<\/p>\n \u201cThe funds will be really instrumental in speeding up a lot of conservation efforts,\u201d Borboroglu said. As soon as he returns to Argentina after accepting the prize in London this week, he will begin a project to protect a 600,000 acre area in Patagonia.<\/p>\n But what is Borboroglu\u2019s favourite species? Although he says it\u2019s like forcing a parent to pick their favourite child, he does have a soft spot for the yellow-eyed penguin, of which there are only around 1,500 pairs left on the planet.<\/p>\n Dr Pablo Borboroglu is the founder and President of the Global Penguin Society and is the Co-Chair of the IUCN Penguin Specialist Group. In addition to the 2023 Indianapolis Prize, he won the Whitley Award in 2010 and the Segre\/WFN Partnership Award in 2014.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n It\u2019s a peng-win for Dr Pablo Borboroglu. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27454,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation.jpg",1200,510,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation-300x128.jpg",300,128,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation-768x326.jpg",768,326,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation-1024x435.jpg",800,340,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation.jpg",1200,510,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/nature-superhero-the-penguin-protector-wins-nobel-prize-of-conservation.jpg",1200,510,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"It\u2019s a peng-win for Dr Pablo Borboroglu.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/27453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}About our expert<\/h4>\n
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