Penguins as a Catalyst for Change: How a Vulnerable Species Group Can Inspire Global Conservation

The well-being of our planet depends on the health of our oceans — to which all of us are connected evolutionarily, economically, and often emotionally and spiritually. Yet we have initiated an unprecedented age of alterations to marine systems. Penguins are a species group particularly impacted by these phenomena, and they’re telling us a story we need to hear.

Biologist Dr. Pablo Borboroglu, founder and President of the Global Penguin Society, joins the Hidden Compass community to share how penguins’ fragile conservation status reflects the condition of the oceans and coasts they inhabit. Borboroglu will share his passion for penguins and explore how they are vulnerable to climate change, mismanagement of fisheries, and pollution at sea, and to human disturbance and introduced predators on land. But despite their precarious situation, penguins present an opportunity to catalyze large-scale conservation efforts, including those undertaken by the Global Penguin Society.

Following Borboroglu’s presentation, Hidden Compass co-founders Sabine K. Bergmann and Sivani Babu will join in for a discussion on how penguins can inspire changes throughout the international community for the betterment of us all.

Bio

Dr. Pablo (Popi) Garcia Borboroglu is the founder and President of the Global Penguin Society, an international, science-based conservation coalition dedicated to the survival and protection of the world’s penguin species. Borboroglu is also a researcher at the National Research Council in Argentina and an Associate Professor at the University of Washington.

He has spent more than 30 years in the field of marine conservation, conducting research on seabird ecology and working with government agencies, communities, and institutions to designate protected areas — including the largest UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Argentina — and develop and implement conservation plans in multiple countries. Borboroglu also focuses on communication and outreach to the public: He has been a scientific advisor to Paramount Pictures, the Swedish and German National Television Channels, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Disney, the BBC, and others.

Borboroglu studied biological sciences at the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco and received his Ph.D. with honors in biology from the National University of Comahue in Argentina. He has received multiple awards and fellowships, including the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, the National Geographic Buffet Award, The Rolex Award for Enterprise, and an Honor Recognition by the Congress of Argentina.