Harold Mooney and Peter Raven, winners of the BBVA Foundation Award for Conservati...(ion generates wealth and well-being for ...)

In 1999, the Grupo Ecolgico Sierra Gorda set in train a co-management model involving shared responsibilities between the Mexican Government and civil society for the management of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve; the protected space with the richest ecological diversity in all of Mexico with a total extension of 383,567 hectares. Sierra Gorda harbors 15 types and subtypes of vegetation, as well as over 1,800 vascular plant species, 124 fungi species and 550 vertebrates, including protected species like the jaguar, black bear, Humboldt butterfly and military macaw.

The jury of the Award for Biodiversity Conservation Projects was chaired by Sergio Guevara (Instituto de Ecologa, Mexico) with members Josep-Mara Gili (Institute of Marine Sciences, CSIC), Jos Vicente de Lucio (University of Alcal), Nuria Marb (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, CSIC-University of the Balearic Islands), Carlos Montes (Autonomous University of Madrid) and Antonio Vercher (Supreme Court Coordinating Prosecutor for the Environment and Urban Development). The Award for Biodiversity Projects in Spain was on this occasion declared vacant.

The BBVA Foundation Award for knowledge dissemination and communication of the importance of conserving the planets biodiversity went to environmental journalist Benigno Varillas.

The award was granted to him for the quality of his long and pioneering professional career in the environmental communication field. The jury also underscored that Benigno Varillas has created a new school in the communication of ecological and nature conservation values in Spain.

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