Franklin College will host one of the few lectures scheduled across the country as part of the Indianapolis Prize Lecture Series presented by the Indianapolis Zoological Society, Inc.
The lecture is set for Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Branigin Room of the Napolitan Student Center.
The lecture, “Saving Species: My Life & Work Protecting Penguins,” will be presented by Dr. Pablo Borboroglu, the 2023 Indianapolis Prize Winner. Borboroglu will recount his lifelong journey to save penguins. He will share the challenges of conservation work, from protecting 32 million acres of ocean and coastal habitat to co-founding the Global Penguin Society, an international conservation coalition for the world’s penguin species. He will discuss the risks he took to save penguins in some of nature’s wildest places, according to a news release from Franklin College.
Borboroglu is a protector of ocean and coastal habitats for penguins in several countries including Argentina. He works to improve penguin colony management through the creation of large, protected areas, including 32 million acres of ocean and coastal habitat. He is the founder and leader of the Global Penguin Society, an international conservation coalition for the world’s penguin species, the release says.
Borboroglu is the co-founder and co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Penguin Specialist Group, which helps to assess the conservation status and advance international penguin conservation action. In the same year that he founded Global Penguin Society, he discovered six breeding pairs of penguins at the El Pedral colony on the eastern cost of Argentina. After successfully designating that area as a wildlife refuge and reducing human impacts, the area is now home to 4,000 breeding pairs of penguins, the release says.
Borboroglu also led efforts to create “Blue Patagonia” – a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – which protects 40% of the global population of Magellanic penguins and the most biodiverse area of Argentina. Home to 67 species of animals, more than 120 species of birds and nearly 200 species of marine invertebrates, this is Argentina’s largest UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, encompassing 200 miles of coastline and 7.6 million acres of land and ocean. In total, Borboroglu has coordinated the development of management plans for eight protected areas since 1998 in Chile and Argentina, the release says.
He is also dedicated to educating the next generation. His Global Penguin Society program has reached more than 200,000 students and community members across Latin American nations. Efforts include leading field visits for 7,000 students who live near penguin colonies as well as the creation of free books and educational material, the release says.
The Indianapolis Prize is the world’s leading animal conservation award. First awarded in 2006, it is given every other year to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to wildlife conservation. Established to bring the world’s attention to their victories, the Prize elevates the brave, talented and dedicated men and women who spend their lives saving the Earth’s wildlife, the release says.
The lecture is free, but registration at alumni.franklincollege.edu/e/convocation-lecture-series-saving-species is appreciated.
Visit IndianapolisPrize.org to learn more about Borboroglu.
