My name is Eleanor Sterling and I'm the Chief Conservation Scientist
here at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.
And I have the great pleasure of welcoming all of you, this wonderful audience, to an
evening of excitement about Lonesome George. We have a surprise adventure before we start
our panel, which I have the honor of introducing the Honorable Lorena Tapia, who is
the Minister of the Environment for Ecuador. So she'll be saying a few words before we
start our panel. So please join me in welcoming Honorable Lorena Tapia.
[Spanish]
To speak of what Lonesome George represents for Galapagos, for Ecuador and to the world
is an opportunity to tell a story that touched hearts and crossed borders. [unintelligible]
[Spanish]
As a country, Ecuador has tried to preserve this species.
and to change our behavior in favor of conservation.
[Spanish]
George has not left us descendents, it's true, but he has left something more valuable.
He has left some lessons learned. Now more than ever, I'm convinced that
the embalmed [preserved] body of our Lonesome George will be the best help to continue working in the
in the protection of our ecosystems.
[Spanish]
Now that the world knows more about Lonesome George,
it's important to remark that he was found in the Pinta Island in 1971, when it was believed that this species of tortoise in this island was totally extinguished.
That's why it's a symbol of hope, since it was part of a program of captivity
in the Galapagos National Park for years.
[Spanish]
It’s necessary to remark that the difficult situation of this species of tortoise on Pinta Island in Galapagos represented by Lonesome George
has served as the way to improve this extraordinary effort that the Ecuadorian state has brought to the restoration,
not only of the tortoise population in this archipelago, but also to improve the status of conservation of other threatened species and their ecosystems.
[Spanish]
It’s my hope that the [preserved] body of our Lonesome George
will invite us to reflect about the future we want to transmit from generation to generation,
the compromise that the conservation of the species from the protection of the environment.
The Minister of Environment of Ecuador is responsible for the Galapagos Islands.
And we should work and improve our effort in that.
Every day there are people in Ecuador that continue working for this cause that is crossing borders around the world.
[Spanish]
The way we work to conserve and to preserve the species like George,
we are doing the same with other species in order that they not have the same destiny
because we work with our hands in the present, but with our eyes in the future.
[Spanish]
Now in the Galapagos archipelago there exists 10 species of tortoises
They are in a good state of conservation and none of them are at risk of extinction.
Everything is possible thanks to the compromise of all the people that work in the Galapagos National Park in the Ministry of Environment.
[Spanish]
To end, I would like to remark that George is a spirit of fight and of hope.
It’s our reason to continue working for the preservation of the environment.
I would also like to thank the team of taxidermists that was referred by experts of wildlife preservation and the American Museum of Natural History, led by George Dante.
He has worked more than a year with the body of Lonesome George, to reach the [state of preservation] as he was found in Isla Pinta in 1971.
[Spanish]
It’s very important for the science, but it’s also an effort to create awareness to the people of the world how we can help the conservation of these species.
Thank you very much
[Applause]
Gracias, thank you, Minister Tapia.
So it’s my pleasure right now to explain to you the format for this evening.
We’re going to have a very quick introduction to an animal that needs no introduction, Lonesome George, by someone who knows him very well.
Then we’re going to have a panel discussion with a number of us who spent quite a bit of time with Lonesome George and have various ways in which we knew him.
Then we’ll open up for question in the audience.
And because we’re so busy and so full tonight, we’re going to take question from cards.
So if you see people walking up and down the aisle with cards, grab some if you have some questions.
And then the great thing is that we’ll all go upstairs, everyone from the stage will go upstairs
and meet with you afterwards in front of Lonesome George,
so everyone has a chance to see him in all his glory with those of us who helped to bring him here, and we’ll ferry him on his way back to Ecuador as well.
So right now it’s my pleasure to introduce Arturo Izurieta, who is the Director of the Galapagos National Park and Marine Reserve.
Arturo was born in Quito and has been dedicated to conservation efforts in the Galapagos since his youth.
He became the director early on in the park’s history in 1991, and then was the park director until ’95, and then he wandered the world.
He was working in Costa Rica, in Panama.
He got a doctorate in the management of rural and natural systems from the University of Queensland, Australia,
and he held posts with the World Wildlife Fund, United Nations, in addition to the work he did in the Australia Australasia region.
He’s back now as the park director.
He resumed this position about a year ago, and he’ll give you a really quick introduction to Lonesome George.
So please join me in welcoming Arturo Izurieta.
[Applause]
Dear guests,
dear friends,
tonight is a special night.
The Minister of Ecuador, she has, in that speech, in a nutshell, expressed many of the things that I wanted to share with you.
which I like to recall that we could not do it by ourselves, it’s with all your help—represents a milestone.
It represents a milestone in the efforts that we need to continue doing.
And as Linda said, there are other species there that we must work on, and not just think about just one individual or certain species,
but thinking about the holistic way of having the islands in a natural state as possible as we can.
Because we are responsible.
We have that commitment to the rest of the world to have it there.
Let me tell you, there’s a lot of park rangers out there like Fausto Llerena and many others with such a spirit, I mean, guiding.
Where would those tortoises be? Where would those pink iguanas be?
They know where they are, and they take those backpacks, water and everything, and they go there and lead the way to where those species are.
So Lonesome George definitely has given us this injection to continue working hard.
And for the ones that are seeing beyond the islands, depending on the degree of your knowledge or sensitivity to the environment,
that’s what Lonesome George represents; thinking globally on the planet.
[Applause]
I would just add, there was a sign on Lonesome George’s corral for a while, and I don’t remember precisely,
but it just said, whatever happens to Lonesome George, let him always remind us that the fate wild species is in our hands.
And I think that's-
That is true.
[Applause]
Well, that was wonderful.
I’m going to take the prerogative as the moderator—I don’t do this often—to actually answer the question myself.
I was thinking today that this work with Lonesome George and the reason he’s upstairs is,
it reminds me of the parable or the story of stone soup, where everybody brought a bit.
Nobody had all the pieces to make the soup, but each person brought their piece to the soup and made a delicious soup that everyone could have a part of.
And I think, in fact, that is Lonesome George’s legacy.
Reminding us that no matter who we are or where we live or what our resources are, we have something we can bring to the table and do that as a community.
We can address some of these questions that we’re concerned about and avert the mass extinctions that we have really been concerned about.
So in the end, it’s not a sad story. It’s a story of hope.
It’s a story of learning again to work together, to collaborate, to think about understanding the problems and finding ways together to identify solutions.
So please join me in thanking this amazing panel.It’s been a wonderful evening, thank you.